Edison YMCA 732-494-3232
Metuchen YMCA 732-548-2044
Woodbridge YMCA 732-496-4170

If you see the staff at your local YMCA wearing a bright yellow shirt, then make a mental note that it’s a special day. Because that’s the day the branch is working with cancer survivors to help them regain their lives.

The Woodbridge-Edison-Metuchen YMCA network has partnered with the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) to create LIVESTRONG at the YMCA, a free program that shows cancer survivors how to return to a healthy lifestyle.

“It is the proudest thing I have done here at the Y,” said Kim Cole, Director of Fitness and Sports at the Woodbridge YMCA. “We do a lot of great things at the Y, but this is a new thing, and there is a real need for it in the community. It feels really good to make a difference with these women especially.”

Nine women, all breast cancer survivors, were in the Woodbridge YMCA’s six-week pilot program, which concluded earlier this year. The Edison YMCA also recently completed a six week pilot involving seven cancer survivors, consisting of both men and women. The Metuchen YMCA is currently in the middle of its pilot program, which is slated to last a full 12 weeks. Depending on the branch, the program has met one to two days per week, during the day or evening.

The program consists of classes on fitness, nutrition, and meditation, as well as an introduction to the fitness equipment at each center. Each participant works closely with a fitness instructor and is given a prescription that uniquely addresses that person’s needs, taking into account factors such as when and what kind of cancer treatment they have received as well as their initial level of physical fitness.

The program is particularly helpful because cancer treatment can leave survivors in a different physical condition than they were in when they first began treatment, and many need additional help and coaching to return to the gym. The program can help cancer survivors at either end of the spectrum: for those that were once strong athletes and are now relearning how to train their bodies once again, as well as for those who have only recently begun to make fitness a priority.

“It is great that this program is geared specifically to cancer survivors, as survivors have different needs than other people do in an exercise program,” said breast cancer survivor and Colonia resident Christine Smith, who was a participant at the Edison branch YMCA.

The program came as perfect timing for Smith, 56, who began Edison YMCA’s six-week pilot program in June, the week immediately following her last round of radiation treatment. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in April and underwent a partial mastectomy in May, followed by 33 sessions of radiation treatment over a period of a month-a-half.

“We all have certain needs, and especially for a woman, after any kind of removal of the breast, you can’t do lifting with the arm on that side, and you can’t overuse that arm,” Smith said. “But in the program at the YMCA, you are very closely monitored and work one-on-one with a personal trainer to make sure they are not challenging you excessively.”

Smith said there was a very “diverse” group of cancer survivors in the program, many of whom she got to know very well.

“You have people with different types of cancer with different years of survivorship,” she said. “I am 56, and there were two women there that are probably at least 10 years older than I am. Another woman has been a 17-year breast cancer survivor. There is nothing else like that, as when you are in a group of survivors, we are all members of a club that nobody else belongs to, and there is a lot of camaraderie there because of it. You share a special bond with those people.”

The program has so far been piloted at 10 YMCAs nationwide over the last two years. Depending on the results, it may soon be rolled out nationally on a much larger scale, according to YMCA CEO Bill Lovett.

“The Lance Armstrong Foundation identified exercise and nutritional programs for cancer survivors,” Lovett said. “What happens right now is that cancer patients finish treatment, and there is no follow-up that is out there for them afterwards. One of our goals is that we want 80 percent of cancer survivors to think of the YMCA as the place to go to for health and wellness.”

Lexy Anderson, Associate Executive Director of the Edison branch YMCA, said that the program was specially geared towards addressing cancer survivors’ unique fitness needs.

“It is really a matter of overseeing each person’s prescription to give them what they need,” Anderson said. “I had a man who was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and they did surgery 15 years ago. His exercise prescription would be very different from a woman who was recently treated for breast cancer. As another example, someone might have a foot neuropathy or issues with balance. It is a group, but you are really looking at each individual and assigning them a prescription that was appropriate only to them, as well as knowing each person and what their concerns are. It required some homework on the instructors’ part.”

“Cleanliness is also an issue, as some of our participants may have an immunosuppressed system,” she said. “If a participant had a cut, it had to be taken care of immediately. Regularly cleaning hands or using a hand sanitizer was important.”

Anderson said that though the main focus of the program is not as a support group, over the program’s duration the participants found themselves talking to each other extensively.

“After a certain point, I could see that the participants felt like they were brothers and sisters,” she said. “One day a woman came in and started crying because she had issues with her treatment, she was so upset… and everyone rallied around her. But at the same time, it is different from a support group because the focus is on completely different things. We’re there to do meditation, to laugh, and to learn to exercise… and while support groups are important, I can just see that with everyone sitting around the tone would be different. We want the immediate focus to be that you are actively doing something for yourself to make your life better, which puts a different light on it.”

The LIVESTRONG at the YMCA program is free. Both the Edison and Woodbridge YMCAs are now accepting applications for their next program, with a start date of late September or October. Ideally, a participant must have completed their cancer treatment before the start of the program, although acceptance decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis. See contact information for each branch at the top of this story.

The program is supported at the Woodbridge-Edison-Metuchen by proceeds from the annual Janice Garbolino 5K Walk/Run, which will be held this year on Saturday, Sept. 26 at Roosevelt Park at 8:30 a.m. To register for the Garbolino run, please click on the following link:https://www.metuchen-edisonymca.org/corporate/familyhealthandwellness.html.