Joe Kline / The BulletinTanya Bruce, of Redmond, is racing the Pole Pedal Paddle as an individual for the first time a year and a half after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Cancer is all about fear.

Fear of losing the ability to do what you love. Fear of pain. Fear of not being there for your family.

That’s how Tanya Bruce sees it.

Bruce knew she needed to cope with the cloud of fear that had overtaken her life in the aftermath of a mastectomy to treat breast cancer.

She had always been an avid endurance athlete. A lifelong cyclist and runner, she had run three marathons, and even summited 11 Cascade peaks in a single year.

Bruce, who lives in Redmond, had none of the typical risk factors for breast cancer when she was diagnosed in November 2012: no family history of the disease, not a heavy drinker or smoker, a healthy eater. Shoot, she exercised 10 times a week, and she was only 39 years old!

“But I got cancer, and I can’t control that,” Bruce says. “But I can control how I spend my time, and how I choose to live my life.”

Bruce, now 41, has no time for all those fears brought on by cancer. If she is not at work writing grants for Central Oregon Community College in Bend, she is most likely skiing, cycling, running or paddling with her husband, Gary, and their 16-year-old daughter Ashley. All three are competing as individuals in today’s U.S. Bank Pole Pedal Paddle multisport race.

“The PPP has been so fun and uplifting for me, because it’s just changed my focus, and that’s what it’s about,” Tanya says.

Racing the PPP is nothing new for Gary, 40, who has raced the last five PPPs solo with Tanya as his key support person. And though this is Ashley’s first time racing as an individual — tackling downhill and cross-country ski legs, along with cycling, running, paddling and sprinting — she should flourish, as she is one of the top cross-country runners and nordic skiers at Bend High, where she is a junior.

Ashley has been inspired by her mom’s recovery and return to an active lifestyle.

“Last year was definitely a tumultuous one,” Ashley says. “I think a lot of people have a glamorized Hollywood idea of cancer, a vision in which the person who is sick is always optimistic and never once has doubts. The truth is, cancer is hard and that idealistic view is misconstrued.”

Make no mistake, the PPP will be an incredibly challenging undertaking for Tanya. Even a year and a half later, the pain and swelling from her mastectomy in December 2012 is significant. Because they are so taxing on the upper-body muscles, skate skiing and paddling are particularly grueling for her. She also had to substantially alter her form to be able to run. “It’s been an uphill battle,” says Tanya, openly sharing her story at a Bend coffee shop this week. “It’s been hard. The surgery was painful and I had to give up a lot of things that I loved: rock climbing, skiing. I just couldn’t do anything with my arms. I still have pain every single day, every minute. Right now I’m in pain.”

A life-altering diagnosis

The Bruces moved to Redmond from Asheville, N.C., six years ago, when Gary, a lawyer, took over as general counsel for St. Charles Health System in Bend. Tanya took the position as grant writer for COCC two years ago.

Tanya underwent a mammogram in November 2012 as a follow-up two years after doctors found a cluster of calcifications in her left breast. Four tumors were biopsied following the mammogram.

As they waited anxiously for the results, Tanya and her family remained optimistic.

“You’re kind of waiting for that call,” Tanya remembers. “Oh, I can’t wait to just get this call and know everything is OK.”

It was not. All four tumors were malignant, and it was a fast-growing cancer that had already spread.

“It’s pretty shocking,” Tanya says. “Then things just happen so quickly. You’re meeting with surgeons and oncologists … more imaging and testing. It takes over your life.”

Doctors said the only option was a mastectomy, which was performed just weeks later.

“It’s such a major surgery,” Tanya says. “On the one hand, I feel so lucky that they caught it early. I’m now, as far as we know, cancer-free. But it’s also really hard to be such an active person, and be diagnosed with breast cancer at age 39.”

Tanya opted against reconstructive surgery on the affected breast, which she says would have required three more operations. Instead, she wears a prosthesis. Recently, doctors located a benign tumor in her right breast, which they are continuing to monitor.

“That’s scary,” Tanya admits. “But as far as I know and as far as I’m concerned, until they tell me otherwise, I don’t have any cancer in me.”

Recovery after the mastectomy was, and still is, hard. But perhaps the hardest part for Tanya was missing out on family time in the outdoors. She would push Gary and Ashley out the door on weekends while she slept and tried to regain her strength in the aftermath of the surgery.

“I felt like just because I had to stay home and recover, they shouldn’t have to,” Tanya says. “And so I spent an entire winter watching them and encouraging them to go off on Saturdays to go ski. I just felt like I missed out on so much of that family bonding time together. I physically couldn’t do it.”

But she was determined to try.

Getting back in the game

Just two weeks after the surgery, Gary hoisted his wife of 18 years onto their bike trainer. One mile took 20 minutes, but Tanya persevered. One mile per day soon became 2 miles per day. When spring arrived, Gary and Tanya went for rides on their tandem bike. Tanya was not strong enough to brake or change gears, but she could pedal.

She eventually developed enough strength to bike on her own, and she started cycling the 18 miles to COCC from home in Redmond.

Her goal for 2013 was to log 2,013 miles on her bike, which she did.

“Doing the PPP is maybe the next step in her progression, and continuing to push her limits until she feels both physically and emotionally recovered,” Gary says.

Tanya also just craved some quality time with her husband and daughter.

“My goal was centered around spending time with my family, and the PPP was it,” Tanya says.

The Bruces have done much of their PPP training together, skate skiing at Bachelor, then one of them driving back to Bend while the other two bike.

Tanya practiced “air” paddling for about three months before feeling strong enough to actually paddle on the Deschutes River. She considered running her best PPP sport before the cancer. But after the surgery, she was forced to change her running style.

“Every time I would try to run, I couldn’t find anything I could wear that wouldn’t cause my arm to go numb or cause more swelling,” Tanya explains. “I had to change my running stance a little, engage my back muscles and be more upright. I changed to more of a toe-striker. Once I could strengthen my core, I could use my arms less and reduce the swelling.”

A family affair

Both Tanya and Ashley will start the PPP today at 10:05 a.m. with the alpine ski stage at Mt. Bachelor. Gary starts 20 minutes later.

Tanya and Ashley have tried to estimate just where along the race course Gary will pass them.

“None of us are going out there thinking we’re going to win anything,” Gary says. “But if we can all make it across the line, I think we’ll be real thrilled.”

Tanya says she is confident she will finish the race, and her goal is to do so in about 3½ hours, which will likely be about an hour slower than her husband. Ashley will probably finish sometime between her mom and dad.

“I don’t have a certain time goal, as long as I beat my mom,” Ashley says with a smile. “We have been engaging in some friendly competition and some smack talk recently.”

“I just want to finish and enjoy it, but there’s a little bit of a competitor in me, too,” Tanya says. “It’s absolutely nuts to do six events in one day! I could be the slowest racer out there, I know that.”

Tanya says she sent an email to every extended family member in Oregon encouraging them to come to Central Oregon for the PPP and help as support crew for the three Bruce racers. Managing gear and logistics for the race can be complicated, and most all individual racers rely on support from friends or family.

Gary’s parents, brother and sister-in-law will be helping out today.

The Bruce family will celebrate together when Tanya crosses the finish line this afternoon at Bend’s Les Schwab Amphitheater.

“I feel like I’m reclaiming my life back,” Tanya says. “A lot of it is about redefining myself, because the cancer is so overwhelming and so scary that I think for a while in your own mind, and in the minds of those close to you, you’re ‘Tanya who has cancer.’ And I’d much rather be ‘Tanya who’s training for the PPP.’”

Today, she will become “Tanya who raced the PPP.”

She might not beat many other racers. But against her biggest foe — the fear born of a disease with which 1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed in their lifetime — she is determined to win.

— Reporter: 541-383-0318, mmorical@bendbulletin.com