Special to The Brookings Register
July 30, 2019, is the dividing line in the life of the 62-year-old Maple Grove, Minnesota, retired mental health therapist. On Dec. 26, 2018, he was initially believed to have prostate cancer. By July 30, 2019, he learned the cancer had spread and he was in Stage 4.But Perri was still running. In fact, his longest absence from running was 10 days after he had his initial prostate surgery July 3, 2019.
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, below, or purchase a new subscription.
Please log in to continue |
Editor’s note: This is the third in a series on three articles in advance of the Brookings Marathon. For more information on a weekend of races May 10-11, go to www.brookingsmarathon.com.
Check out this resume:
That’s all between April 1976 and July 30, 2019.
July 30, 2019, is the dividing line in the life of Tom Perri, a 62-year-old Maple Grove, Minnesota, retired mental health therapist. On Dec. 26, 2018, he was initially believed to have prostate cancer. By July 30, 2019, he learned the cancer had spread and he was in Stage 4. But Perri was still running. In fact, his longest absence from running was 10 days after he had his initial prostate surgery July 3, 2019.
After the Stage 4 diagnosis, Perri began six months of hormone therapy. On Oct. 23, Perri had bladder surgery due to the spreading cancer. What followed was 38 rounds of radiation — 13 focused on the prostate and 25 on the lymph nodes. Then he had surgery on his neck for a growth that proved to be benign.
Since July 3, 2019, Perri has had three surgeries, 46 radiation treatments through three rounds and 14 months of hormone drug treatment.
Nonetheless, on May 11 you can find Perri at the Brookings Marathon, not working an aid station or cheering the finishers. He will be pacing the 5:30 marathon finishers.
His cancer will never be in remission, he said. But he long ago gave up the thought of feeling sorry for himself.
Perri, who made a career of study and teaching about suicide and addictive behaviors, recalled sitting on his couch on July 30, 2019, with a six-pack of Hamm’s and a bottle of bourbon. “I sat there and thought about life. I decided to go on living my life the best I could,” said Perri, who credits his mother for his positive outlook.
Perri’s penchant for perseverance was built into his genes long before his living room couch reflection. In fact, between his 10-day postsurgery running break and July 30, Perri had run marathons in Iowa and Utah.
While he took those two marathons gingerly, finishing in just under six hours, he was soon running at nearly his pre-cancer speed. Ten days after his Oct. 23 bladder surgery, he paced the 4:30 group at the New York City Marathon, bringing the group in at 4:29:27. “I never missed a pacing assignment” because of cancer, he said.
Interestingly, it was Perri’s running performances that prompted his medical journey.
“I was trying for second round of sub 4-hour marathons,” running a marathon in all 50 states in less than four hours. He had been running 3:50 marathons “without much effort at all,” but then began to struggle. After causes like Lyme Disease and anemia were ruled out, Perri thought “Maybe at 55 I was getting old and starting to slow down.”
When consecutive PSA tests came back with scores of 92 and 93, a biopsy was performed to confirm his prostate cancer.
But even when the pathology report brought bad news, Perri said, “I never had a sense that cancer was going to defeat me. I had a feeling that I was going to defeat cancer. It’s just the way I’ve lived my whole life. Put an obstacle around me, I will try to change it. Whatever is in front of me, I will find a way around. Life is like a roller coaster with ups and downs.”
However, Perri chooses not to focus on the downs.
Perri said in his professional life, he “dealt with so much depression and negative self-destructive behaviors that I saw in people. I tried to help remove that blockage so people don’t see alcoholism or suicide as their end. When you deal with so many people that are depressed and alcoholics or have HIV/AIDS, you realize your life isn’t as bad as you think.
“Even with me, dealing with cancer, there are people that are a heck of a lot more sick than I am. I really don’t have anything to complain about.”
Rather than complaining, Perri has been running. Since July 30, 2019, he has run 192 marathons. His 193rd marathon will be May 11 in Brooking.
Perri, a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, has run a total of 687 marathons, and this will be his second trip to Brookings. His first was in 2002 before the current course was in place.
Perri’s dream goal is 1,000 lifetime marathons. If he should be able to run marathons until age 80, he would need to run 18½ marathons per year to make that goal happen. Considering Perri will be having another round of scans and tests soon to evaluate the state of his cancer battle, Perri’s odds of completing the 1,000-marathon goal are slim at best. However, long odds don’t intimidate Perri. His 2024 race calendar is full and 2025 is filling up.
“I’m not letting cancer deter my plans,” said Perri, who aims to be pacer at the 50th running of the London Marathon in 2030.
A short-term goal is becoming an eight-time 50 States Club member by July. He adds he only needs 21 states to become a nine-time 50 States Club member. Perri is the first person to pace a marathon in all 50 states and hopes to become first person to pace in all 50 states with Stage 4 cancer.
But those accomplishments aren’t the reason Perri continues to run.
“I love the social aspect of it. I’ve paced almost 1,200 events around the world. I keep telling everybody who hasn’t run a marathon, if you do a marathon it will change your life in the sense that it is such a big goal to do. If you want a big goal in your life, do a marathon, then everything else will seem like a piece of cake.
“If you’re struggling with depression, if you’re struggling with weight issues, if you’re struggling with alcoholism, of some kind of substance abuse, the self-confidence you can get from running, I’ve seen it so many times how it’s changed a person’s life,” Perri said.
He has taken some of the successes he has seen and put them in a self-published book — “Running: My Salvation from Stage 4 Cancer.” The 352-page paperback is broken into 27 chapters with each chapter telling the story of someone who has overcome obstacles. Not all the stories are about runners, he said.
He said he wrote it in a “Chicken Soup for the Soul” format with each chapter delivering inspiration. Perri’s story is woven through all the chapters.
The book just came off the press April 1 and is available on Amazon. In true Perri fashion, he is planning book signings in all 50 states.
