Member Milestones

Laura is 56 years old and works as a reading interventionist at East De Pere, where she gets the awesome opportunity to work one-on-one with first graders learning to read. She finds great enjoyment seeing them grow and gets excited when they figure it out. Laura is married to her husband John and together they have five grown children Kevin, Andrew, Nathan, Erica, Brian and four grandsons. She and John also have a dog-named Buddy. Laura enjoys reading a good mystery book, traveling with her husband, kayaking, biking, running, floating in the pool, cooking, and enjoying a good ice cream cone.

Laura’s fitness journey began over 21 years ago when she was motivated to lose the excess weight gained from her pregnancies. She had changed her diet and was working out on an elliptical at the YMCA. Laura remembers the day she felt the urge to start running again as she did in high school and college. As her weight started to drop, she began to feel healthier and was building up endurance to run longer. She stayed motivated to be healthy because heart disease runs in her family and she wanted to be a healthy mom for her family. The Bellin Run was her first run she ever entered. Since than Laura has completed several half marathons, a few marathons, and a couple mini triathlons.

Two years ago, Laura was diagnosed with a very early stage of breast cancer, which required multiple surgeries. Then last December she had a bunion removed from her foot. After each of these surgeries, Laura has to take a break from her personal fitness routine and start from almost ground zero to recover and gain back her strength. Laura has been personal training with Eydie working one-on-one for several years. Every time she had to put her weight training on hold, Eydie has been there for Laura to help gently and safely make a comeback with her workouts at the fitness center. Laura is grateful to have Eydie’s expertise and care, her encouragement and ability to push her just enough. Eydie stressed Laura’s physical fitness before her surgeries helped her have successful recoveries. Laura is so thankful to be healthy and to be able to make a comeback from cancer and bunion surgeries. A success that she is grateful for is with her foot surgery it caused her foot to be tender and it forced her to be in tune with her limits as she worked to gain full strength back. She learned to balance patience with herself and know when to stop or push a little.

Since starting her fitness journey, Laura has learned that staying fit is something you need to pay attention to; mind, body, and spirit. As she ages, she is becoming more grateful and does not want to take anything for granted knowing that life can change quickly without warning. Laura also credits her faith, which plays a big part in helping her press forward. Laura’s advice for others is to be honest with yourself, what you invest into being healthy is worth the time and effort. Laura says, “Total health doesn’t happen at the gym but is a life style of being active and eating healthy too. Take the time to take care of you!”