Serena Ramsey Burla is literally on her toes these days as she prepares for the Olympic 2012 Trials in Houston, hoping that she will make the cut to the United States’ marathon team. As part of any athlete’s training, Burla is expected to go through a lot of challenges and pain—neither of which she is new to.
Burla, 29, has been a successful athlete since her high school days and she has been through all sorts of pain that any marathoner could go through. But the toughest challenge in her life came in January 2010 at a half marathon in Houston. It was a severe pain in her right hamstring, which she initially thought was just another sports injury. She was surprised when the diagnosis was synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer which attacks the joints of the neck, leg, and arms.
Burla underwent aggressive surgery a month after the diagnosis. She had a very good reason to live for, her lovely little son Boyd. She prayed that her life be saved just so she could be there for her boy, the rest does not matter much. But then she realized that running is something that she really loved and the leg should be saved as well.
Her doctor was confident that she would still be able to walk after the surgery but he was sure that Burla would not be able to walk again. But in November that year, just ten months after surgery, Burla finished 19th in the prestigious New York Marathon—defying odds which she seemed to stand no chance against.
And nearly two years after the diagnosis, here she is, Serena Ramsey Burla eyeing a spot for the marathon even in the 2012 Olympics in London. She may not join the qualifier as a favorite but without a doubt we can see an all-or-nothing performance from the mother, survivor, and inspiring athlete.
