After two rounds of chemotherapy and surgery, elite marathoner Luke Puskedra’s one-year-old daughter, Penelope, is now in remission from the childhood cancer neuroblastoma.
That’s according to Puskedra and his wife, Trudie, who shared the news with Runner’s World during a visit to Chicago this week.
Penelope was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in February, just days after Puskedra took fourth place at the Olympic Marathon Trials.
Under the care of doctors at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, Penelope first went through two rounds of chemotherapy—each three days long, with six weeks in between—to shrink the orange-sized tumor in her neck.
An MRI six weeks after the second round revealed that the tumor had shrunk to about the size of a plum; at that point, she had surgery to remove it. Two weeks ago, the Puskedras received the results of urine tests showing the cancer was in remission.
She needs no additional treatment—just follow-up testing to make sure the cancer doesn’t return. “It’s like cotton balls in her diaper that we take to the lab every six weeks—it’s pretty simple,” Trudie Puskedra said. “No more pokes.”
Penelope’s long-term prognosis is extremely positive—she’s expected to live a long, healthy life, Luke Puskedra confirmed.
The family had previously expressed gratitude to the running community for their support. A GoFundMe page set up by a family friend drew more than $77,000 from more than 1,000 donors, including many big names in running. “You have a lot more people in your corner than you think,” Luke Puskedra said of the experience.
Puskedra, 26, said he took several weeks off of running after the marathon trials both to deal with Penelope’s care and to rehab an IT band injury, along with additional days off to be with his wife and daughter during chemotherapy infusions.
He’d originally considered running the U.S. Olympic Trials this month in Eugene, Oregon, but the break left him without a qualifying standard in the 10,000 meters.
As the fourth-place finisher in the marathon trials, he’d be offered a spot in the Games if Galen Rupp, Meb Keflezighi, or Jared Ward decided not to run. Puskedra resumed training seriously about eight weeks ago and is now back up to 110 miles per week. “If the opportunity with the Olympics came up, I’d be ready for it,” he said.
But if he doesn’t head to Rio, he’ll return to run the Chicago Marathon on October 9. Last year, he ran 2:10:24 to finish fifth and clock the fastest 26.2 by an American in 2015.
Cindy is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to Runner’s World since 2013. She’s the coauthor of both Breakthrough Women’s Running: Dream Big and Train Smart and Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries, a book about the psychology of sports injury from Bloomsbury Sport. Cindy specializes in covering injury prevention and recovery, everyday athletes accomplishing extraordinary things, and the active community in her beloved Chicago, where winter forges deep bonds between those brave enough to train through it.
