Jana Whitby is ready for her third straight Ogden Marathon with only one goal -- no more brain surgery.
The marathon has served as a victory parade for Whitby. The actual battles occurred at home and in the hospital, her scars showing up as long circular cuts along the side of her scalp.
Her troubles started with a simple ear infection in 1994.
"It was a chronic superbug and ended up being MRSA," said Whitby, an Ogden mother of two. "It got into the skull and destroyed the mastoid bone."
Doctors removed the mastoid bone, made up of a spongy material located at the base of the skull behind the ears.
The problem was fixed as far as Whitby knew -- until she started to have bouts of vertigo when she stood up. Her family doctor checked for an ear infection and found nothing. But he continued to check her balance and asked her to simply close her eyes while standing up. Whitby fell to the floor.
Doctors found that the staph infection was still present and had damaged the bottom portion of her skull.
"The weight of the brain had fallen down through the skull," Whitby said.
Doctors had to surgically construct a new platform to hold her brain. The infections have continued, and she has had three brain surgeries in the past four years to stop infections. She will always have chronic difficulties as a result of the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections and the operations.
"Motion sickness is what I deal with," Whitby said. "I just walk in a world that spins most of the time. I trip and fall and I just laugh and say, 'Oh, I know how to tuck and roll pretty good.' "
But every May since 2008, you can find her walking, typically with crutches, the half-marathon at the Ogden Marathon, as part of the Women in Motion group.
Group therapy
Women in Motion is led by Julie Hansen, adjunct nutrition professor at Weber State University. Women in the group, with a body mass index of 30 and over, get together to train and participate in the half-marathon route through Ogden Canyon.
A person with a BMI of more than 30 is medically classified at obese. But Hansen's primary goal is not to get the women to achieve weight loss; it's more about turning sedentary lifestyles into active ones.
"These women have every excuse in the book not to do it," said Hansen, director of Women in Motion. "It's social support. They are all together for the common goal. They don't have that at home. They don't have that at work. They are all together and it's just girl time."
Participants weigh in at the first class and do not weigh themselves again until the last meeting. That's all part of Hansen's approach to making the group about changing habits. The program stretches over 16 weeks, with the women meeting once a week for classes on nutrition, proper footwear and injury prevention. They also work out together twice a week.
The 2010 program will have a nutrition education focus. Hansen said participants will focus on how to retrain the brain to eat healthfully.
In the end, she wants a program that is fun for all those in attendance, so she adds in a yoga class and a girls' night out to watch movies.
"Last year, I would say that we had around 40 people in the program and had 30 people put their toes on the starting line" at the marathon, Hansen said.
Women in Motion started in 2006 as an employee benefit for Intermountain Healthcare workers. It was held at McKay-Dee Hospital before moving to Weber State University the following year and becoming a public class. That initial employee program caught the attention of Stacy Brower, who had recently had her first child.
"They wanted us to walk one or two miles of a 13-mile walk," said Brower, an Ogden mother of two. "I knew I could probably do that, and I knew I needed to get out and do some exercise."
Her reasoning? She knew that if she wanted to teach healthy habits to her children, she first needed to take a hard look at her own lifestyle.
"They are one day going to want to go and do stuff, and I need to be able to go help them. And if I just sit around all day, I'm going to be able to g out and do that," Brower said.
The work has started to pay off. Both of her children will be a part of this year's kids K in the Ogden Marathon, which her son has done twice before. She has not missed a single Ogden Marathon since 2006 -- despite being pregnant for the 2007 run.
A harsh six months
Whitby found the group after noticing a mention in a hospital flier. She joined as a way to help her recovery.
"My greatest experience was the first year I looked up the canyon and said, 'Oh my gosh, I literally walked down this whole thing,' " Whitby said.
The first year for Whitby was exhausting and painful, but nothing compared with trying to compete in last year's marathon. Once again, the staph infection had returned and she had to endure another brain surgery in September 2008. Her release after a 15-day hospital stay was short -- another infection developed in the sutures and put her back in the hospital for her fifth surgery the following month.
Her home life was turned upside down three days after leaving the hospital when her marriage broke up.
"I had lost my marriage and everything after the surgery," Whitby said. "I didn't have a recovery time after that last surgery and being in (the hospital) for over 15 days. I had to get up and be a mom all of the sudden."
She credited Women in Motion and Julie Hansen for helping her through the harsh year.
"It was the thing that got me up and going sometimes," Whitby said. She still went to every meeting.
In the last stretch of the marathon last year, her kids went through the spectator barricades and held her hands as they walked across the finish line together as a family. "I think that was incredible because of what we had gone through for the past ... six months."
Now she looks forward to the 2010 marathon -- as long as her doctor gives her a clean bill of health. Through all of the trials, she has maintained a rosy outlook on life.
"I guess it's spiritual," Whitby said. "I understand that these are my battles and this is what I have to face.
"If anything, it has taught me about how great of a fighter I am."
If you are interested in joining Women In Motion and have a body mass index of more than 30, go to programs.weber.edu/womeninmotion. Cost is $100 and includes admission to the half-marathon at the Ogden Marathon on May 15. Space is very limited.
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