Cancer, Chemotherapy, and CrossFit: A Story of Survivorship

From first pull-ups to first dates, Richmond Loo, 39, and Selene Zhang, 33, have conquered a lot. But perhaps the couple’s biggest achievement is navigating Zhang’s ongoing battle with stage 2 breast cancer with an outlook that can only be described as overwhelmingly optimistic.

“Be happy in life. Look at the optimistic side,” Zhang said. “Be strong. Enjoy what you have.”

Zhang carries this outlook throughout every facet of her life, and her husband echoes the sentiment.

“Life will be full of good things and bad things,” Loo said. “But it all leads to one thing: your decision of how you deal with it.”

Pull-ups and Puking

Before their romance was ignited, Loo coached Zhang at CrossFit Mobilus in Singapore. During the 2018 CrossFit Team Series, Loo challenged Zhang to achieve her first strict pull-ups in two weeks’ time, promising that if she did, he’d treat her to a meal at a one-star Michelin restaurant.

Determined, Zhang rose to the challenge and performed her first pull-ups during CrossFit’s partner competition. Loo followed through on his promise, and the two ventured out to lunch on what — unbeknownst to Loo — was the couple’s first date.

“I still remember that day,” Loo said. “She was wearing a beautiful red dress, and at that very moment I was like, ‘Oh, is this a date or what?’”

After lunch, they went out for a cocktail, Loo remembered.

“After the cocktail I was done for the day,” he said, “so we took a taxi home and I started to feel ill. I actually vomited in the taxi on our first date. I didn’t know who to blame, the one-star Michelin restaurant or the damn cocktail, but it happened.”

Despite Loo’s misfortune, Zhang continued to pursue him, and the rest is history. Within the walls of CrossFit Mobilus in October of 2020, Loo got down on one knee and asked for Zhang’s hand in marriage. She accepted, and they began to soak up the bliss as a newly engaged couple, blind to the challenge ahead of them.

1 in 8

After finding a lump in her breast during a routine self-exam in early 2021, Zhang scheduled an appointment with her doctor. On Jan. 14, 2021, she received a heartbreaking diagnosis: stage 2 breast cancer.

“When you hear ‘cancer,’ you think it’s a death sentence,” Zhang said, noting the fear she felt when she was diagnosed.

Many tears were shed as Zhang, Loo, and Zhang’s parents sat in the doctor’s office awaiting the next steps.

“When we found out that she had cancer we wept a bunch,” Loo said. “But then immediately, we realized that this is our chance to actually carve our legacy … we have a story to tell.”

Zhang was scheduled to start chemotherapy a few short weeks later, but the couple had some business to attend to first. Since chemotherapy would ruin Zhang’s chances of fertility, she and Loo decided to freeze embryos so they’d have the option of in vitro fertilization at a later date if they chose to start a family. Laws in Singapore require that couples be legally married before starting this process, so Zhang and Loo had an “express wedding,” Loo said. The couple were married on Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021, just eight days before Zhang’s chemotherapy began.

“We were racing against the clock,” Loo said.

Zhang completed six chemotherapy sessions in total, undergoing treatment every three weeks. For 10 days following each session, Zhang endured severe gastrointestinal symptoms while battling extreme fatigue. She’d feel almost normal for a bit before her next session, and then she’d repeat the cycle.

CrossFit as a Complement to Chemotherapy

Despite the debilitating symptoms associated with the aggressive form of cancer treatment, Zhang was determined to keep moving her body throughout chemotherapy.

“The coolest thing is that (Zhang) competed in the (2021) CrossFit Open,” Loo said. “She was already going through chemo at that point.”

“The first two weeks (of the Open) were during my good days,” Zhang said. “21.3/4 was right after my chemo session. In my mind I was like, ‘Oh, my God, can I make it for 21.3/4 or not?’ I managed to do it.”

Not only did she manage, Zhang lifted 104 lb. in 21.4’s complex that consisted of one deadlift, one clean, one hang clean, and one jerk.

CrossFit helped Zhang keep her strength up while she was in a fight for her life, she said.

“During my cancer treatment, I told myself that I need to be moving no matter what. I need to be strong no matter what. I cannot be lying on the bed all the time. I cannot be feeling bad all the time,” she said.

“CrossFit helped me to be really strong mentally and physically,” she added. “CrossFit is a tough sport. We tell ourselves all the time, ‘It’s just a 5-minute or 10-minute WOD. We can get through this.’ I tell myself that cancer is just a short period of my life and I can get through this no matter what. I think that really helped me mentally.”

In addition to the physical and mental benefits, the emotional support of the affiliate community at Mobilus was unrivaled.

“The community at Mobilus was always rallying behind us,” Zhang said. “When I started to go back to the box to work out whenever I felt like I could, they were always giving me support, telling me, ‘You’re so strong. You can do this.’ I really felt a lot of support from the community.”

Loo said the affiliate’s members were eager to help. He remembered one conversation he had with a Mobilus athlete: “He said to me, ‘You and the coaches have built a really solid community in Mobilus, so this is truly the time for us to be there for you. So whatever has been built in Mobilus, now you will truly see the power of the community through our love for Selene.”

Community is forged through crisis, Loo added, noting he believes a caring and supportive community can be found in CrossFit affiliates worldwide.

Survivorship

It only takes a brief encounter with Loo and Zhang to recognize the couple’s unwavering optimism, which has positively affected Zhang’s survivorship.

“I think we feed off each other,” Zhang said. “On days when I get really down, I’ll talk to him about it … and he’ll tell me, ‘We’re gonna get through this. Everything’s gonna be fine.’ And when he’s down, he’ll talk to me about things and I do the same for him.”

“How I look at cancer is how I look at things in my life in general,” Zhang added. “I just always feel that things will work out by themselves if you believe that they will work out. So I always try to be happy and positive in everything that I do.”

The stark realization that life is precious has taught the couple to always focus on the good.

“We’ve learned to make sure we find pockets or moments in life that either you choose to stand up or sleep on. … We always tell ourselves there are people out there that are far worse off,” Loo said. “We are very fortunate, we can pay for cancer treatments … she has a cancer that is treatable.”

Zhang’s treatment started with six sessions of chemotherapy over the course of 18 weeks. She then underwent 15 sessions of radiation therapy before surgery.

“I was presented with an option of a lumpectomy at first, so that I can still conserve my breast,” Zhang said in a recent article in CNA Lifestyle. “However, after an MRI found some further suspicious mass in the same breast, I opted for a mastectomy with an implant reconstruction instead.”

Zhang’s journey and ongoing recovery have left doctors in awe.

“The doctor actually made a comment saying, ‘Your recovery is actually very fast. I think it’s because you’ve been exercising all the time,’” Zhang said, laughing.

She even inspired her oncologist to join CrossFit Mobilus.

“The oncologist saw (Zhang) working out and actually joined us in our gym to do CrossFit. That’s the influence of CrossFit,” Loo added.

Currently, Zhang is undergoing hormonal therapy to target cells and prevent the cancer from returning. She said she feels like herself again.

“I don’t feel like a cancer patient anymore,” she said. “I feel like a normal person.”

Zhang has a few words of advice for anyone facing a breast-cancer diagnosis.

“I would say that it can be very treatable. Listen to your doctors. Listen to what they have to tell you. Trust that they have your best interest at heart … always keep moving as well,” she said. “I think a lot of people hear that exercise is important once they have cancer, but they have not ever exercised before that. … Always keep moving … and just be happy in life.”

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In support of Breast Cancer Awareness month, CrossFit Mobilus is hosting MOBPINK, a fundraiser benefitting the Breast Cancer Foundation. Click here to learn more. 

All photos courtesy of Richmond Loo and Selene Zhang