College track athlete, Miranda Biddle from Aledo, knew something was wrong as she felt herself getting slower and slower during her season.
The Aledo-native returned to Truman State University after Christmas break Biddle said her performance on the track was suffering and she kept getting colds that wouldn’t go away.
“It took me kind of a while to figure out,” said Biddle. “Finally I went to the doctor and I was like this isn’t right, this isn’t me I could tell something was wrong with my body.”
After getting a chest x-ray while away at school, doctors found a mass, which lead them to Iowa City for a diagnosis.
It was found that the mass was cancer in February 2013, and Biddle was forced to leave school. She underwent 30 chemotherapy and 25 radiation treatments. She said she was determined to keep fit for her track career, even through the treatment.
“I can keep running and I’ll just come back and be fine,” Biddle thought. “At first I would run a lot and then they got harder and I had a lot less energy and for running. If I went on a run that’s all I could do that day and I’d just be wiped. So finally I just decided that I needed to take a break from running.”
Through her battle with cancer, she received support from family, friends, her faith, and even strangers.
“People that barely even knew me were constantly sending me cards,” Biddle said.
The most surprising support came from past high school competitors. Biddle said messages from her previous rivals said things like, “we loved your sportsmanship” and, “we can’t believe this happened,” and, “we’re praying for you.”
Biddle said she’s almost done with treatment, and attributes her strength to her faith.
“You could really feel God’s love,” said Biddle. “It’s just like crazy that that many people could care about me. It makes me so happy to have all those people in my life.”
“Words can’t express how proud I am of her on so many levels,” said Miranda Biddle’s mother, Marsha. “She is the strongest person I’ve ever known.”