Kristen Dugan was in remission from breast cancer for 21 months when she began experiencing pain in her breast and armpit while she was traveling home from North Carolina and training for the New York City Marathon. She would soon learn a tumor had been growing in a lymph node under her arm, hidden beneath muscle where she could not feel it, even as she kept logging training miles toward one of the world's biggest races.
A Diagnosis Buried Beneath Muscle
Dugan was first diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2024 after imaging and a biopsy confirmed the disease, according to WPTV. She completed five months of chemotherapy and entered remission, the station reports. At the time of her original diagnosis, her three daughters were 11, 9 and 6 years old, and Dugan told her mother about the diagnosis right away, though she waited until the night before the West Palm Beach More Than PINK Walk to tell her daughters, per the same report.
During that first round of treatment, Dugan said she never had an infection or illness and never had to reschedule a single treatment, the station notes. But just 21 months after finishing chemo, while returning from a trip to North Carolina and training for the New York City Marathon, she began experiencing pain in one of her breasts and in her armpit. Brain scans, MRIs, ultrasounds and biopsies followed, according to the article.
Hidden Tumor, Grueling Training Schedule
“It's in a lymph node hiding underneath a muscle, which is why we couldn't feel it,” Dugan said, describing where doctors found the new tumor, per the station's report. She is now undergoing both immunotherapy and chemotherapy while continuing to train for the marathon, the outlet reports.
Dugan said she applied for a spot on Susan G. Komen's marathon team believing there were only 20 openings, according to the same account. Team Komen is slated to take part in the 2026 TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 1, according to Susan G. Komen, which also notes that 1 in 8 women will receive a breast cancer diagnosis during their lifetime.
Leading the Local Fight Against Breast Cancer
Beyond the marathon, Dugan is serving as event chair for this year's Susan G. Komen More Than PINK Walk in West Palm Beach, the 36th annual edition of the event, which the station reports is scheduled for Jan. 30.
“I am doing this so that breast cancer is not the inheritance that I leave my children or other people's children,” Dugan said, according to the report. She added that she hopes her daughters and other children will one day live in a world where breast cancer is a disease of the past. For a mother training through chemo and immunotherapy, the marathon has become less about a finish line and more about the future she is trying to build for the next generation.
