How exercise helps cancer survivors stay alive and thrive, and 1 way to boost VO2 max
Mountaineer Petra Thaller, who survived breast cancer, leaned on exercise to thrive in recovery and set up an NGO to help others do the same
Veteran mountaineer Petra Thaller does not easily accept defeat – especially from cancer.
In 2014, the German mother-of-two, then aged 53, was hiking the Carstensz Pyramid – also known as Puncak Jaya – which at 4,884 metres (16,024 feet) is Indonesia’s highest peak.
She found it odd that she felt so tired on the climb. At one point, while crossing a river, she hurt her breast, which immediately swelled up and felt tender and sore.
On her return to Germany, her doctor found five malignant tumours in her breast. Treatment was aggressive: lymph node removal, chemotherapy, a mastectomy and then radiotherapy.
Less than two years later, while still in treatment, two small nodules – diagnosed as “precancerous” – were found in her other breast.
Although no treatment was required at that stage, she felt as if she was back at square one, she says over Zoom from her home in Munich, Germany.
