Winning a different kind of battle

By the time most people in the CNMI wake up this morning and pour their first cup of coffee, over 100 men, women, and children will have already completed a 2,000-meter swim and completed the better part of a 60-kilometer bike ride across Saipan en route to running 15-km and finishing the 16th Annual Tagaman Triathlon.

While each of the participants has had to overcome their own obstacles in order to prepare themselves for the traditional endurance challenge, Eric Sharer’s journey has been a little more than that of your average triathlete.

The brother of 2003 Suva South Pacific Games bronze medalist Dirk Sharer made his trip from the chilly Great Lakes region of the mainland to take part in the grueling mental and physical test, but Eric’s road to this race was much longer than the 18-hour trip from Wisconsin.

Last year at this time, Eric was poised to complete his last cycle of chemotherapy, and taking daily two-mile walks with his wife Shirley en route to winning his bout with cancer, as he wrote in his journal.

“April 19th (Dirk’s birthday) brings the beginning of the last cycle and my last difficult week with five days of treatment. It is similar to running a marathon…very tired, ready to finish, and the finish line in sight.”

The end was far from in sight in February of 2004, when the married father of three was diagnosed with Nonseminoma Germ-Cell Testicular Cancer. From then on, his family and friends followed his daily online journal of his operations and recovery.

Over the course of the next couple of months, Eric has had to endure painful chemotherapy treatments, the loss of muscle and bone mass, loss of his hair, intensive rehabilitation, numerous blood tests and X-rays, and the rollercoaster of emotions until his doctors announced that his surgery and treatments had successfully defeated his attacker.

This May 3, Eric reaches a milestone, as it will be a year since he has completed his chemotherapy. According to what his research and doctors tell him, every one-year mark dramatically reduces the chance of the cancer’s return.

While Dirk is happy that his brother is making the trip to Saipan to visit since he made the island his home some eight and a half years ago, he is thankful just to have him at all.

“I’m really glad that he’s alive. We have been so close, and he helped me out with some things back in the States a while back, and it’s really great that he’s here,” said Dirk.

If the weather is anything like yesterday, the racers will be faced with a strong wind that is sure to affect the race, but Eric said that he’d prefer the warm Pacific breeze to the 15-degree zephyrs from the Great Lakes.

Dirk will be using the race as a test of his overall fitness before he travels to Palau later this summer to represent the CNMI in the 2005 South Pacific Mini Games, but Eric has no plans of pushing himself to the limits of his abilities, although he admits to being cautious of his competitive spirit that helped him take part in the 1994 Boston Marathon.

“I’ll be enjoying the scenery. The only thing I’m worried about is getting on the bike and hauling until the change point for the run and having nothing left,” he said.

No matter how he finishes in today’s triathlon, Eric Sharer has already crossed the finish line in the race for a cure with his family, friends, and his faith. On May 3, he’ll make another transition.