UI nurse tackling triathlon to raise awareness for cancer research

Linda Moeller, an oncology nurse in the University of Iowa Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, will be competing in her first triathlon on Sunday, June 22, at the Hy-Vee Triathlon in Des Moines. Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

Linda Moeller, an oncology nurse in the University of Iowa Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, is willing to go the extra mile in her efforts to help find a cure for blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma.

Actually, that’s selling her short: Moeller will swim approximately 1 mile, bike almost 25 miles, and run more than 6 miles on June 22, when she participates in the Hy-Vee Triathlon in Des Moines as a member of Team in Training, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s largest fundraising program.

“I have always been passionate about raising awareness for cancer research and support for cancer patients,” Moeller says. “It’s been inspiring to set this sort of goal.”

Moeller, 48, isn’t a veteran of the triathlon circuit—this is her first attempt at the three-sport event. She admits she doesn’t come from the most athletic of backgrounds, either.

“I’ve always been a swimmer—that played a role in my choice to compete in a triathlon,” she says. “But until recently, other than some recreational biking, I wasn’t much for serious forms of exercise. I didn’t even play sports in high school.”

So what would motivate Moeller to take on this sort of challenge? A discovery of high blood pressure four years ago prompted her to start pounding the pavement, but her patients—one in particular—have been the inspiration for this lofty goal of completing a triathlon.

	Linda Moeller recently completed her first 5K run during a nursing convention in Las Vegas. Still on a "runner's high" of sorts, she looked to try something more challenging, which led to her triathlon registration. Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

Team in Training members designates an honored teammate for their events. Moeller has chosen Troy Waddell, a University of Iowa pharmacy alum from Red Oak, Iowa, who is a two-time cancer survivor. Moeller met Waddell while he was treated for CLL, a form of leukemia. She was amazed by his positive attitude in the face of cancer and the chemotherapy treatments he required.

“Here’s this 38-year-old guy, taking part in weeks, months of treatment that required him to come in for four, sometimes five consecutive days,” Moeller recalls. “Yet he chose to take this negative situation and put a positive spin on it. He’d point out that he got to meet many nice people, he was able to read books, see movies, that sort of thing.

“I’d never in all my years on the job heard that sort of outlook—I knew this guy was special,” she adds.

Waddell, like many others who are treated for cancer, wasn’t going to let cancer define him. Throughout his treatment period, he continued to water ski and play tennis.

“One day, Troy drove all the way from Red Oak, which is near Omaha, for a bone marrow biopsy, then hopped back in his car to get back to Red Oak in order to play in his tennis league match,” Moeller says. “Let me repeat: He just had a bone marrow biopsy. They give you good drugs, but it’s no picnic.

“When he later told me about it, he didn’t mention the certain pain he would have endured because of the biopsy—all he said was that he finally beat the one guy in his league that he’d always wanted to beat.”

This sort of anecdote serves as inspiration for Moeller during her training sessions, but also provides job satisfaction that sometimes can be hard to come by in a field that deals with disease and terminal illness. Moeller wasn’t always happy during stints in surgical and inpatient units, but found the patient population in the oncology unit life-changing for the better.

“It’s sort of cliché, but I truly get more than I give,” Moeller says.

For the last few months, Moeller has been giving her time—not to mention blood, sweat, and tears—to prepare for the triathlon. This can be taken literally: her intense training schedule has included a bloody accident on the bicycle and a stressful group-swim exercise that left Moeller wondering if she could really do this.

“Our group simulated the lake swim one day,” Moeller says. “The coach is bumping us, pulling us. At one point, I gulp a big wave of water and I think I’m going to die. I was almost in tears, thinking about what’s going to happen when I’m actually in the lake. But our coach talked me through it, and it made me realize the importance of having a strategy. My solution was to swim backstroke.”

Moeller will be more than happy if she finishes the race in fewer than four hours, but isn’t fretting about that number. “I’m taking the attitude that I’m aiming to complete, not compete,” she says. The more important number already has been achieved: she surpassed her fundraising goal of $2,500.

“Troy was enrolled in one of our recent studies, which are made possible by funding dollars,” Moeller says. “There are direct benefits from the research dollars that the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society raises.”

Case in point? Waddell’s last full checkup showed he is in complete remission.

“People say, ‘You’re a nurse, you’re working with cancer patients, isn’t that enough?’” Moeller says. “But because I have that perspective, I realize better than most that it’s not enough just to talk about it—you have to get off the couch and get involved.”

by Christopher Clair