It’s not unusual for someone to run a 10K, or a half marathon, or even a full marathon. But for Fiona McKiernan, 35, running—and at one point even walking—was an almost miraculous feat, making her story a bit more special than the rest.
On Oct. 9, McKiernan will join 25 other runners from around the world, who have benefitted from medical technology as one of the 2016 Global Heroes, running the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. in the Twin Cities Marathon.
But just a few years ago she was bedridden, McKiernan told the Sun.
Her medical issues began with extreme fatigue and a variety of other hard-to-diagnose symptoms. “I was so debilitated I was told I wouldn’t be able to finish college. They kind of wrote me off and I had to move back home,” she said.
Her mother had to feed her and wash her hair. Her dad had to carry her to her doctor appointments.
Eventually doctors did find a diagnosis: Celiac disease.
The diagnosis helped her restore her strength and energy levels and clear away many of the other symptoms. However, she was dealing with one problem that she had kept from most of her family and friends. She had urinary retention issues, which kept her close to home. Eventually she was fitted with a medical device that helped control her difficulties, but she still had pain and the mental obstacle of getting over her fear of being too far from a bathroom.
Then her husband got her a registration to the Air Force Half Marathon. “I couldn’t even walk at the time and he got me this registration for Christmas. I thought it was a joke,” she said.
She began to train, building up her endurance 30 seconds at a time. She’d run for half a minute and then walk for two minutes. “I did that over and over until I could run my first mile, which was amazing,” she said.
With that achievement under her belt she began training in earnest for her first half marathon. Just before that marathon she returned home to Ireland to see her family. They were shocked to see her run, she said. Her brother, who tried and failed to keep up with her on her distance run, told her family that she was slow but relentless.
“So that’s my slogan, slow but relentless,” she said.
After that first half marathon McKiernan ran three other half marathons. For the upcoming Twin Cities Marathon she is only running the 10K but she eventually hopes to run a half marathon in her home of Ireland.
“For me to run was something just unimaginable. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d ever say ‘I’m a runner.’”
This article appears in Oct 6-13, 2016.