Regan's courage, perseverance should be admired by all

During my first Ironman distance race in 1995, I finally caught Mary Ellen Regan of Ledyard about six miles into the run.

We were among a group of local triathletes who had trained together and made the trip to Lake Sunapee, N.H. for the race. Regan, then 41, was in the best shape of her life.

One of my most vivid memories of that race was the huge smile on her face as I pulled alongside and we chatted about how our friends were doing. The next morning she was bouncing around like she had just run a 5K while I had to walk backwards down the stairs at my bed and breakfast.

Not long after that race, Regan began "feeling off" and her race performances began to slip. Although she continued to ride centuries and run races such as the Nipmuck Trail Marathon, she began to gain weight and retain fluid. She also had a persistent pre-menstrual like soreness in her lower abdomen.

She went to the first of what would eventually be 15 doctors. He suggested she exercise more and eat right, something she had always done. At the time, she was the health and fitness supervisor at the former Mystic Community Center.

Over the next 14 years, she saw gynecologists, endocrinologists, primary care doctors and naturopaths. All were perplexed by her symptoms. Some said she was just getting old or was experiencing the "menopause from Hell." Others suggested she "grin and bear it" and wait for the affliction to run its course. But no one knew how to fix it.

"My quality of life was terrible," she said.

She had to give up running and switch from a road bike to a more comfortable mountain bike. She began hiking and camping, things she said offered new experiences and a chance to meet new people.

When she moved to Warwick, R.I. to work at a health and wellness center a few years ago, she began having trouble helping patients move around.

Her low point may have come the day when a person she was showing how to use weights noticed she was very knowledgeable.

"Do you do any of these yourself?," the woman asked her.

"I thought, 'Is that how I look,' " recalled Regan.

For someone who once thought nothing of teaching three hours of aerobics classes in the morning followed by a 75-mile bike ride and a 15-mile run in the afternoon, the transition was especially difficult.

She began wondering if maybe that training had caused some lasting damage. Worse, she began to doubt herself. Her family wondered why she just didn't accept what was happening.

Regan remained convinced something was wrong and refused to stop looking for an answer.

Last year, at a time where she didn't want to see another doctor, her daughter-in-law suggested she visit Dr. Hugh Taylor, a world renowned reproductive endocrinologist at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Taylor was mystified by what was plaguing Regan. He agreed with past doctors that she should not undergo a hysterectomy. When she reiterated her long belief that something was wrong with ovaries, Taylor had an idea.

He suggested she begin monthly injections of a drug that would stop her ovaries from functioning. Her symptoms quickly improved and when Regan had to stop taking the injections because of insurance problems, they returned. Regan finally had her answer and in December a surgeon removed her ovaries. Tests showed preliminary signs of cancer.

"I think the message in all of this is if you don't think something is right, you have to persevere," she said.

Regan said she was relentless in her quest to find an answer and get her life back. She said she hoped that sharing some of these private details might give someone else the courage and hope to keep looking for an answer.

"Don't doubt yourself," she said.

In many ways, her 15-year search for a cure has been like that Ironman race back in 1995.

"This has been an endurance event for me," she said.

Regan, 55, has moved back to Ledyard, and has launched a fitness consulting and education business that will match people with the activities that will best result in the benefits they are looking for. She can be reached at reganmjk@comcast.net.

At the end of January she began mixing in some jogging into her walks and started thinking about racing again. She's now running two miles at a time.

"It's like I've lost the last 15 years. There's a lot of things I want to do," she said.

One of the first is running the Broad Street Run, a 10-mile event in Philadelphia, with her sister in May.

And I'm sure she'll have a smile on her face.

Joe Wojtas is The Day's running columnist.