Running a Marathon: teacher beats breast cancer, returns to classroom

“I was just so proud of myself for the marathon, but also for kicking cancer’s butt,” said Rauch, a Grade 1 teacher at École Mazina-Giizhik who was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in April of 2025. 

“I was able to release feelings I hadn’t yet processed, and crossing that line was not just like a sigh of relief and pride for running the actual race, but it was all that I had endured the year and some before.”

After her diagnosis, treatment began with a lumpectomy, a surgical operation to remove the breast tumour. Following that, she underwent a lymph node biopsy. And after that, a third surgery to insert a port.

Then chemotherapy began.

“Chemo was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through,” Rauch said. “It knocked me down, and as a go-getter, busy mom, teacher, I’m used to go-go-go, and I just couldn’t do it.”

Going up the stairs, she ran out of breath. She lost her hair. For nine days afterwards, she couldn’t get out of bed. Treatment was once every 14 days. Finally, some semblance of feeling human again, but in a few days, the not-so-merry-go-round was set to start again. 

“Maintaining hope was so important,” she said. “I bought myself eight little rings, and every time I finished a treatment, I had one of my nurses pick one and give it to me. It wasn’t a big thing, but it was just that little thought that ‘I get this, because I did the hard thing.’”

After eight rounds of chemo, near the end of December 2025, she started radiation, five days per week for a month. Finally, she had completed active treatment. It was time to begin rebuilding her strength, in body and spirit.

“When you go through something so physical, you don’t really deal with the emotional. You’re just in survival mode,” she said. “Then everything comes crashing down, and you’re left to process. Like, wow, what did I just go through?”

Rauch refused to let it keep her down. 

“It taught me that if I can get through that, I can get through anything.”

Rauch rekindled an old goal to run a marathon, and she began to train. She prioritized her health and built herself up, kilometre by kilometre, step by step. She celebrated her efforts with a trip to Hawaii in April 2026, where she ran a half-marathon, preparing for the full marathon back in Winnipeg. 

Even while away from the classroom, Rauch continued to teach. Drawing on her instinct to educate and support others, she began sharing her breast cancer journey through Instagram reels, using her experience to raise awareness.

She created content for her former students and their families to help explain why she was no longer at school. The videos became a way to maintain a sense of purpose during her leave.

Rauch, in year 17 of teaching, has now returned to the classroom.

“I’m so, so happy,” she said. “It’s just so nice to find my purpose again, and to be around kids, and to make a difference.”

Rauch hopes her experience helps others better understand the importance of early detection, self-advocacy, and prioritizing their health. She wants people to know that breast cancer can be difficult to detect, even with clear mammograms, especially for those with dense breasts, and encourages people to attend screenings, do self-checks, and pay attention to changes in their bodies.

“You come first,” Rauch said. “As teachers, we often put ourselves on the back burner. But that’s my biggest message: take care of yourself, so that you can take care of others.”