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Napa woman defeats cancer, turns to triathlon
Napa's Cheri Piscia-Nichols, who beat ovarian cancer, rests after completing a sprint triathlon at Rancho Seco Park near Galt on Aug. 24. Submitted photo | Buy photos
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CommentWhen Cheri Piscia-Nichols jumped in the water for her first triathlon eight years ago, she knew the next two hours or so would test her wits and determination like nothing she had done before.
Well, except for battling ovarian cancer the year before.
Well, except for battling ovarian cancer the year before.
While the goal in her first sprint triathlon was just to finish, the five months of chemotherapy were a must-win. After receiving her sixth round of treatments in July 2000, she had won.
In January 2001, she began another five months of agony — training for that year’s Danskin Women’s Triathlon in downtown Sacramento — though it made her feel alive like never before. She trained with Katie Aaron, her best friend since her freshman year of high school.
In January 2001, she began another five months of agony — training for that year’s Danskin Women’s Triathlon in downtown Sacramento — though it made her feel alive like never before. She trained with Katie Aaron, her best friend since her freshman year of high school.
“The chemotherapy made me feel really bad, but getting through it made me want to really start exercising again and getting fit again,” the 1990 Vintage High graduate said. “It was exhilarating.”
Piscia-Nichols grew up on the softball diamond but her father had been a high school track star, so she tried a season of cross country. She took running into her adult life.
Piscia-Nichols grew up on the softball diamond but her father had been a high school track star, so she tried a season of cross country. She took running into her adult life.
But running three miles right after a half-mile swim and 12-mile bike ride was altogether different.
“There were definitely times when I was thinking ‘I need to stop and walk now.’
“It became a mental challenge at that point,” she recalled. “I still remember aspects of that. I finished. I wasn’t anywhere close to first, but I finished.”
Piscia-Nichols attempted and completed two more sprint triathlons that year in Sacramento, a women’s Nike event and the Golden State co-ed event. Sprint triathlons are the shorter versions of the Ironman or the Olympic distance.
She did the Golden State event again in 2002, before her job at a pharmaceutical company in Marin County took away her training time.
“It was a start-up company, so I ended up working long hours and a lot of roles. I didn’t make training a priority,” she said.
In fact, she didn’t compete in a triathlon again until this year.
A new beginning
At age 28, Piscia-Nichols found herself running to the restroom in the middle of the night. She had been married just six months to her high school sweetheart, 1990 Napa High graduate Aaron Nichols.
“I didn’t know if I was drinking too much water or having too much to eat, but I thought it would go away the next month,” she recalled. “Then I went in for annual exam, and they found a cyst on one of my ovaries. Because it was so large, they removed it, examined it and found it to be a malignant tumor. It was a shock because nobody in my family we know of had a history of cancer of any kind. It was a really big thing to have happen for a newlywed.”
When Piscia-Nichols underwent a second surgery to remove the ovary, the cancer was determined to be at a treatable early stage.
“The scary thing about ovarian cancer is that there’s no screen test for it,” she said. “Eighty percent of women who have it find out in its late stages, and their survival rate is 30 percent because it has already spread to other organs.
“My chances were greater than 90 percent.”
Piscia had spooked herself before the second surgery by going online and finding out there was a chance she would not make it. She thought of that during her chemo treatments.
“It was really scary. I never felt I was gonna die, though, because I was surrounded by support and love from family and friends,” she said. “I felt it was just something I had to go through.”
The turning point was when she and her husband welcomed Olivia into the world on Sept. 5, 2006. She took maternity leave from the pharmaceutical job and never returned. She’s been a stay-at-home mom ever since, though they’re not always at home.
“Katie and another Napa mom, Karin Hatton, started Stroller Energy, a fitness class for moms to do with their babies in strollers, so they don’t have to worry about finding a babysitter or day care,” Piscia-Nichols said. “It’s a cardio workout with resistance training. I started going five days a week when my daughter was eight months old. My daughter really enjoyed strolling at Kennedy and Fuller parks and I enjoyed meeting other moms staying in shape.
“Having a child kinda helped me put things in perspective. I wanted to live a long life so I could see where Olivia goes in life, and want to feel good as she grows up, have enough energy to keep up with her, but also to feel mentally relaxed and more centered. My training is time for myself.”
More than fitness
She got her competitive juices back this past March 2 during the Napa Valley Marathon’s Kiwanis 5K Run, which started and ended at Vintage High.
“I ended up placing in my age group and didn’t even go into the race thinking about that,” she recalled. “When I saw that a woman who finished ahead of me was only 20 or 30 seconds faster, I thought, gosh, if had run a little faster I’d have beaten her.”
She and Katie did a duathlon in Granite Bay in April. It was two miles of running, 6.5 of biking and two more of running, and she was first out of six women in her 35-39 age group.
In June, she did the first of three sprint triathlons at Rancho Seco Park near Galt, passing the ominous twin cooling towers of a decommissioned nuclear power plant as she entered the park. It included a half-mile swim, a 16-mile bike ride and a three-mile run. She finished sixth in her age group out of 36 in 1 hour, 42 minutes.
“I did all right, but it was a tough one,” she said. “It was on a really windy and cool morning, and it was almost like ocean conditions out there on the lake.”
She did another sprint triathlon of the same distance Aug. 2 at Rancho Seco and finished in 1:32, shaving 10 minutes off her previous time and finishing fourth out of 26 in her age group.
Piscia-Nichols returned to Rancho Seco on Aug. 24 for the Luna Bar Challenge, featuring a half-mile swim, 20-mile bike ride and four-mile run, and finished 20th overall and 10th in her age group in 1:55.
“Before the last couple of races, I had set some times in my mind that I was hoping to beat, so it is not just about beating the other women in my age group, but about meeting some personal goals as well,” she said.
She said September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and she’ll celebrate by competing in the Cliff Bar Team Challenge triathlon at Folsom Lake on Sept. 27. It’s a relay race, and she’ll do the five-mile run only, after another Napa mom swims 3/4 mile and Katie bikes 13 miles. Piscia-Nichols will finish her season with Tri Girl Tri, an all-women’s event at Lake Berryessa on Oct. 11 that includes a half-mile swim, 11-mile bike ride and 5K run. She hopes to compete an Olympic distance — .93-mile swim, 24.85-mile ride and 6.2-mile run — next year.
“Cheri and I began the sprint triathlons together eight years ago and she has taken it to another level due to an inner drive that has allowed her to excel at everything she puts her head into,” Katie said. “From setting the curve in her chemistry class at UC Davis to chipping off minutes of her time in each tri, she has an inner drive that all athletes need to succeed.”
All the write stuff
Piscia-Nichols will be featured in the October issue of Women’s Health magazine with an excerpt of her winning entry in a 1,000-word essay contest for the Lynne Cohen Foundation, which supports research for ovarian and breast cancer. The purpose of the essay was to share one’s connection to breast and/or ovarian cancer to inspire other women.
“I’d only written scientific stuff before that, but I jotted down some ideas and wrote my first pass and it took on a life of its own. I sent it to Katie and had Karin look at it, too,” she said.
She based her essay on the feelings of denial she’d felt just before her diagnosis.
“The person who won it last year wrote that her mom had passed away from ovarian cancer, and her essay was about how she had become more proactive with her health from what she went through with her mom. Ovarian cancer is a silent killer. There are symptoms, but it can be misdiagnosed.
“My essay starts with me talking about my symptoms and how I rationalized them away, trying to stay in control when my body was out of control. The cancer was not silent in my case, but I was silent about the symptoms. I had to understand and accept that I cannot be in control of every situation. I think that’s what the judges found interesting.”
Katie was inspired long before she read her friend’s essay.
“The life challenges that Cheri has overcome in the last 10 years sit inside of me every time I go out to train,” she said. “A hill in front of me on the bike is nothing compared to the chemo treatments she endured. She is the reason I climb those hills.”
“There were definitely times when I was thinking ‘I need to stop and walk now.’
“It became a mental challenge at that point,” she recalled. “I still remember aspects of that. I finished. I wasn’t anywhere close to first, but I finished.”
Piscia-Nichols attempted and completed two more sprint triathlons that year in Sacramento, a women’s Nike event and the Golden State co-ed event. Sprint triathlons are the shorter versions of the Ironman or the Olympic distance.
She did the Golden State event again in 2002, before her job at a pharmaceutical company in Marin County took away her training time.
“It was a start-up company, so I ended up working long hours and a lot of roles. I didn’t make training a priority,” she said.
In fact, she didn’t compete in a triathlon again until this year.
A new beginning
At age 28, Piscia-Nichols found herself running to the restroom in the middle of the night. She had been married just six months to her high school sweetheart, 1990 Napa High graduate Aaron Nichols.
“I didn’t know if I was drinking too much water or having too much to eat, but I thought it would go away the next month,” she recalled. “Then I went in for annual exam, and they found a cyst on one of my ovaries. Because it was so large, they removed it, examined it and found it to be a malignant tumor. It was a shock because nobody in my family we know of had a history of cancer of any kind. It was a really big thing to have happen for a newlywed.”
When Piscia-Nichols underwent a second surgery to remove the ovary, the cancer was determined to be at a treatable early stage.
“The scary thing about ovarian cancer is that there’s no screen test for it,” she said. “Eighty percent of women who have it find out in its late stages, and their survival rate is 30 percent because it has already spread to other organs.
“My chances were greater than 90 percent.”
Piscia had spooked herself before the second surgery by going online and finding out there was a chance she would not make it. She thought of that during her chemo treatments.
“It was really scary. I never felt I was gonna die, though, because I was surrounded by support and love from family and friends,” she said. “I felt it was just something I had to go through.”
The turning point was when she and her husband welcomed Olivia into the world on Sept. 5, 2006. She took maternity leave from the pharmaceutical job and never returned. She’s been a stay-at-home mom ever since, though they’re not always at home.
“Katie and another Napa mom, Karin Hatton, started Stroller Energy, a fitness class for moms to do with their babies in strollers, so they don’t have to worry about finding a babysitter or day care,” Piscia-Nichols said. “It’s a cardio workout with resistance training. I started going five days a week when my daughter was eight months old. My daughter really enjoyed strolling at Kennedy and Fuller parks and I enjoyed meeting other moms staying in shape.
“Having a child kinda helped me put things in perspective. I wanted to live a long life so I could see where Olivia goes in life, and want to feel good as she grows up, have enough energy to keep up with her, but also to feel mentally relaxed and more centered. My training is time for myself.”
More than fitness
She got her competitive juices back this past March 2 during the Napa Valley Marathon’s Kiwanis 5K Run, which started and ended at Vintage High.
“I ended up placing in my age group and didn’t even go into the race thinking about that,” she recalled. “When I saw that a woman who finished ahead of me was only 20 or 30 seconds faster, I thought, gosh, if had run a little faster I’d have beaten her.”
She and Katie did a duathlon in Granite Bay in April. It was two miles of running, 6.5 of biking and two more of running, and she was first out of six women in her 35-39 age group.
In June, she did the first of three sprint triathlons at Rancho Seco Park near Galt, passing the ominous twin cooling towers of a decommissioned nuclear power plant as she entered the park. It included a half-mile swim, a 16-mile bike ride and a three-mile run. She finished sixth in her age group out of 36 in 1 hour, 42 minutes.
“I did all right, but it was a tough one,” she said. “It was on a really windy and cool morning, and it was almost like ocean conditions out there on the lake.”
She did another sprint triathlon of the same distance Aug. 2 at Rancho Seco and finished in 1:32, shaving 10 minutes off her previous time and finishing fourth out of 26 in her age group.
Piscia-Nichols returned to Rancho Seco on Aug. 24 for the Luna Bar Challenge, featuring a half-mile swim, 20-mile bike ride and four-mile run, and finished 20th overall and 10th in her age group in 1:55.
“Before the last couple of races, I had set some times in my mind that I was hoping to beat, so it is not just about beating the other women in my age group, but about meeting some personal goals as well,” she said.
She said September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and she’ll celebrate by competing in the Cliff Bar Team Challenge triathlon at Folsom Lake on Sept. 27. It’s a relay race, and she’ll do the five-mile run only, after another Napa mom swims 3/4 mile and Katie bikes 13 miles. Piscia-Nichols will finish her season with Tri Girl Tri, an all-women’s event at Lake Berryessa on Oct. 11 that includes a half-mile swim, 11-mile bike ride and 5K run. She hopes to compete an Olympic distance — .93-mile swim, 24.85-mile ride and 6.2-mile run — next year.
“Cheri and I began the sprint triathlons together eight years ago and she has taken it to another level due to an inner drive that has allowed her to excel at everything she puts her head into,” Katie said. “From setting the curve in her chemistry class at UC Davis to chipping off minutes of her time in each tri, she has an inner drive that all athletes need to succeed.”
All the write stuff
Piscia-Nichols will be featured in the October issue of Women’s Health magazine with an excerpt of her winning entry in a 1,000-word essay contest for the Lynne Cohen Foundation, which supports research for ovarian and breast cancer. The purpose of the essay was to share one’s connection to breast and/or ovarian cancer to inspire other women.
“I’d only written scientific stuff before that, but I jotted down some ideas and wrote my first pass and it took on a life of its own. I sent it to Katie and had Karin look at it, too,” she said.
She based her essay on the feelings of denial she’d felt just before her diagnosis.
“The person who won it last year wrote that her mom had passed away from ovarian cancer, and her essay was about how she had become more proactive with her health from what she went through with her mom. Ovarian cancer is a silent killer. There are symptoms, but it can be misdiagnosed.
“My essay starts with me talking about my symptoms and how I rationalized them away, trying to stay in control when my body was out of control. The cancer was not silent in my case, but I was silent about the symptoms. I had to understand and accept that I cannot be in control of every situation. I think that’s what the judges found interesting.”
Katie was inspired long before she read her friend’s essay.
“The life challenges that Cheri has overcome in the last 10 years sit inside of me every time I go out to train,” she said. “A hill in front of me on the bike is nothing compared to the chemo treatments she endured. She is the reason I climb those hills.”
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