#BraveLikePhil
Name: Phil Shin
Age: 49
Diagnosis: hepatocellular carcinoma (rare liver cancer)
Years of Survivorship: Working on year one!
Location: South Pasadena, CA
Follow Phil on Twitter, Instagram.
How has running or staying physically active affected your cancer journey?
Prior to my cancer diagnosis I was already an avid runner. I had run over a dozen marathons and several more half marathons so running was a big part of my life. In fact when I received my initial cancer diagnosis, I had just finished running the 2018 LA Marathon and was about to embark on a training plan to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I had to put those plans on hold to deal with living with hepatocellular carcinoma, a rare cancer of the liver.
In May 2018, I underwent surgery to resect the tumor from my liver just 3 weeks after my diagnosis. The surgery went very well and I was hospitalized for only 4 days. My medical team attributes my fast recovery to the fitness I had attained from running. I suppose you can say that running literally saved my life.
Once I recovered from surgery, I returned to marathon training again. My new lease on life really renewed my purpose and I used running to express my gratitude for being able to do the things I loved. In the process, something transformational happened….I got faster. In October 2018, just 5 months after my surgery, I ran my fastest marathon by more than 20 minutes and qualified for the 2020 Boston Marathon. It was the greatest day of my life. I was finally going to run the Boston Marathon.
Less than a month later, the joys of achieving a lifelong dream came crashing down when I was told by my hepatologist that my cancer had returned. This time I was told that my only curative option would be a liver transplant and that I would have to wait 3 years to realistically receive a liver from a deceased donor. Rather than take a gamble on living with cancer for more than a year while waiting for a deceased donor, we instead pursued an option to seek a living donor who would donate a portion of their healthy liver to replace my cancerous liver.
While we were waiting for my liver donor match, I kept running. And I kept getting faster. Rather than consume myself with the agony of waiting for someone to come forward to save my life, I chose to try and outrun my cancer. In the 6 months after my cancer recurrence, I ran 4 more marathons and qualified for Boston twice more, and also had the opportunity to run the 2019 London Marathon, all while living with cancer.
Instead of using cancer as an excuse to prevent me from pursuing my dreams, I turned it into the fuel I needed to keep showing up and prove to myself and to everyone around me that it had no agency in my life.
In August 2019, my liver donor was confirmed. A good friend of mine named Mark from Portland, OR. Yes, he’s a runner too. This further proves my theory that runner friends truly make the best of friends.
We had our liver transplant just 3 weeks after Mark was confirmed as my match. We recovered from the surgery in less than a week and 5 months later we ran a half marathon together. Then a month later, Mark was right by my side when I crossed the finish line at the 2020 Los Angeles Marathon. That was just 6 months after my liver transplant.
Thank you, running.
Mark, Phil, and Joel finishing the 2020 LA Marathon.
What advice do you have for people on staying fit throughout their cancer treatment or recovery?
My advice to those living with a cancer diagnosis or life-threatening disease is to do something that moves you forward. Just pick a spot and go to it. It doesn’t matter how far away it is or how long it takes you to get there. Just get up and move towards it. Then go there again the next day and then the next. Before you know it, you’ll see that you’re getting there faster and with less effort. Then you’ll find yourself wanting to go a little further and then a little faster. That’s what progress is all about.
For my own cancer journey, I motivated myself into believing that I would outrun cancer. Anytime I didn’t feel motivated to get out of bed and step out the door, I simply imagined my cancer getting a step closer to me. That was all the boost I needed to lace up my shoes and go out for a run. Even after my liver transplant which may have freed me from cancer, I don’t take anything for granted and will not allow myself into believing that my cancer won’t get a second wind and try to catch me in the back half of my life race.
What are some of your proudest accomplishments since being diagnosed with cancer?
There are so many incredible gifts that I’ve been blessed with since being diagnosed with cancer two years ago. My proudest accomplishment by far was organizing a Brave Like Gabe team of 20 runners for the 2020 Los Angeles Marathon. We raised over $10,000 while showing the city of Los Angeles what #runningonhope truly meant. Our team ran the streets of LA with half a dozen blue heart-shaped balloons so Gabe could track us from above.
I also had the honor to run the marathon with fellow Brave Like Gabe warrior Joel Stetler from the start at Dodger Stadium all the way to that beautiful finish line at Santa Monica beach. I was also blessed to cross that finish line with my liver donor Mark by my side. I literally cried for the entire last half mile of the race. It was a day I will never forget.
Gabe’s brave spirit truly showered down on us in the City of Angels that day.
Phil at the Pasadena Half Marathon.
How has Gabe's story impacted you or changed the way you view life as a cancer patient/survivor?
While waiting for my living liver donor to come forward, I reached out to Gabe through social media and we immediately made a connection. We both had similar scars from the same liver resection surgeries performed earlier on us. While I was going through the maddening process of waiting for my donor, Gabe was always there to encourage me to keep living and keep pursuing hope through running and being the best version of myself.
When Gabe passed away in June, I made it one of my life’s missions to take the baton from her and help Brave Like Gabe continue to be a source of inspiration for those struggling with the same battles Gabe and I had with rare cancers. I want to help show that #runningonhope is a real thing and that it will make a difference in your life, with or without cancer.
And most importantly, I want to bang the drum with Gabe’s message blaring, “It’s okay to struggle, but it’s not okay to give up.”
“Being #BraveLikePhil means:
Do something that moves you forward. Just pick a spot and go to it. It doesn’t matter how far away it is or how long it takes to get there. Just get up and move towards it. Then go there again the next day and then the next.”
What are you most looking forward to in the near future?
I’m most looking forward to the next opportunity to spread hope. Next on my marathon calendar is the 2020 Boston Marathon which got postponed to September due to the coronavirus pandemic. Although this was an unfortunate yet necessary decision, I view this as an opportunity to have more time to help fundraise and raise awareness for rare cancers and liver disease.
With the world in such despair right now, this is truly the time to help spread hope and inspire others to keep going. I look forward to continuing to help share Gabe’s spirit through the Brave Like Gabe Foundation and hopefully get to a place one day where cancer is no longer the end of a sentence, but instead the bridge to a better and inspiring life for yourself and to those around you.
Is there anything else you'd like us to know about you?
Just keep staying tuned. The best is yet to come. Until then...stay brave.