LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — Rodney Hendrickson finished the Derby Festival half-marathon in Louisville in two hours and six minutes last year. But it wasn’t his usual one hour and 51 minute average.

“Fifteen minutes over 13 miles is a big increase in time,” Hendrickson said. “I knew something wasn’t right.”

After rigorous testing, he found out in September that he had defused, large cell B Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  Each day became a new goal for Hendrickson, from the first drip of chemical poison at the starting line, as his life became a marathon race against lymphoma.  His wife, Alice, daughter, Autumn, and son, Jimmy, kept pace with him the entire battle.

“I looked at it as a marathon because I’m a marathon runner, and they’ve ran every step of it with me,” Hendrickson said.

He had six R-CHOP chemotherapy treatments, three weeks apart over a four-month period.

“My oncologist tells me that type of chemo is the most toxic, harshest type of chemo that there is, and I had very little problems,” he said.

Before treatments and diagnosis, he was more active than ever, running about 1,400 miles a year, averaging more than 100 miles a month and cycling 2,500 miles a year.  His doctor said he had an 80 percent chance of survival due in large part to his fitness level and the cancer was at a stage three on a scale from one to four.  

Not only did his family fight the battle with him through the four longest months of his life, so did his Facebook friends.  Every day, he posted his daily thoughts as well as his progress on chemotherapy.  On some days, his Facebook friends shed tears and responded with prayer, while other times they would bombard him with 150 “likes” because of joyful news.  

The following are a few of his journal entries:



October 1, 2011

“Well, today’s the day.  Last night was much like the night before the other marathons I have ran.  I didn’t sleep much…The race (chemo) starts at 8:30.  I’m ready to get on with it.”



October 12, 2011

“According to the information on the type (of) chemo I am taking, my long, flowing locks of hair will fall out in clumps sometime between today and Saturday.  I must have started the chemo 10 or 15 years ago and didn’t know it.  We are now at the two-mile marker with 24.2 miles to run.  Yesterday, I actually got sick for the first time.  I felt myself turning green while at work.  It only lasted about 20 minutes.  I consider this the first tiny hill of our marathon.  I know there are some major hills to climb in the distant miles ahead. “



December 7, 2011

“Cancer has a way of forcing a person to take inventory of our lives.  Since I was a kid, I have tried my best to fill my life with as many “adventures” as I could possible fit in…I have future dreams of someday hiking to the top of 14,000 foot peaks in the Rockies and back-packing parts of the Appalachian Trail.  On reflection, I think I have a deep seated fear of living a wasted, insignificant, uneventful life…Since having cancer, it’s occurred to me that ‘having lived’ does not mean having a lot of adventures.  Significant living comes with filling your life with things that last forever.  Mercy, forgiveness, compassion, grace, and truth are just as few of these things.”

 * * *

Because of lymphoma, trivial things such as finances and work deadlines became less important in Hendrickson’s life.  Those things seem important, he said, but they’re not. He knows personal relationships are what is truly important in life.

“More now than they were before…when you look at life and death situations,” he added.

After treatment, he reduced his daily 10 mile run to 3.4 miles with a few walk breaks in-between, and he’s not ashamed to admit he is taking it easy.  But he’s never going to stop his marathon, and enjoying his life.

Hendrickson was named TOUR Southern and Eastern Kentucky’s 2011 Man of the Year for their 47 county region. He retired as a United States Department of Agriculture resource conservation and development coordinator on Dec. 31, and has since taken on the title of co-executive director of the London-Laurel County Tourism Commission.

On March 2, Hendrickson will find out the results of his most recent PET scan to see if the chemotherapy treatments killed his cancer.



mmccrarey@sentinel-echo.com