With pain shooting down her arm, Judy Wright picks up a 2-pound weight, grips it tightly and struggles to lift it above her head as personal trainer Judi Corsello guides and encourages her movements.
After being diagnosed in 1993 with breast cancer and having surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Wright suffered with the pain of lymphedema. The condition, a buildup of fluid when the lymph glands are no longer there to circulate the fluid, occurs in some women after breast cancer surgery. When this happens, the arm swells with fluid, muscles become weak and inefficient and the arm feels heavy, like carrying around a dead weight.
“I was 34 years old with a 16-month-old child and was miserable,” said Wright, a Downers Grove resident. “It was horrible. I was willing to do anything to live without pain.”
That was where Corsello, a Palatine personal trainer, stepped in. Corsello and Wright teamed up, determined to tackle the lymphedema that made Wright’s life almost unbearable. Proceeding cautiously, they developed an individualized weight training program, increasing weights and the amount of exercise only when Wright was ready. Weight training reduces fluid and makes the muscle stronger.
This experience resulted in new direction for Corsello: educating and working with post-breast cancer patients, encouraging them to move and make real lifestyle changes.
“Judi listened to me,” Wright said. “She asked me questions and investigated my needs. For a long time, I was very frustrated and very angry, and she gave me a new lease on life.
“She helped me regain full range of motion and the strength I had lost through loss of my lymph nodes in surgery. Judi has been good for me, and I’ve been good for her.”
Corsello said she knows of no other trainers in the northwest suburbs who focus on post-breast cancer patients. She has worked with 32 such patients so far, in addition to her regular clients.
“Working with post-breast cancer women is of special interest to me because there’s such a need in this area,” Corsello said. “There’s not a lot of trainers who are willing to work with someone who just had surgery or who have the knowledge to work with a breast-cancer patient.”
In addition, Corsello is helping to launch a cancer care exercise program at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge for women who have had breast cancer or gynecological cancer. It will be a 12-week program, with a 12-week followup. Corsello is going to document what works and what doesn’t to perfect a regimen.
“It’s what I’ve been working for. It’s the first of its kind,” Corsello said.
Corsello has a personal interest in this field–she has a history of cancer in her family.
“My dad had cancer, (and so did) my dad’s sister and now my mom’s sister,” she said. “I exercise because of a fear of cancer. I know exercise isn’t a catch-all prevention for everything, but it is at least part of the prevention for lung disease and cardiovascular disease, plus it helps fight depression.
“They say you can’t change your genes, but you can change your habits.”
She said exercise after cancer can help increase bone density, lower cholesterol, lower resting heart rate and increase daily stamina.
“It’s especially important for post-breast cancer patients to exercise because their body literally gets poisoned by chemotherapy, and exercise helps the cells eliminate that poison,” she said.
Although there are no known scientific studies supporting exercise for post-breast cancer patients, Wright’s oncologist, Dr. Patricia Maday of Hinsdale Hematology Oncology Associates, attests to its benefits.
“Generally, in my observation of a number of patients who keep active–even patients who are receiving chemotherapy–they seem to be doing much better in getting back into shape and in recovering from the side effects of the chemotherapy,” she said. “Certainly (that was true) for Judy Wright, who kept a level of activity, although modified. But any level of activity that a patient can tolerate, even at a minimum level, seems to enhance the speed at which they recover.”
When Corsello introduced Ileane Green of Roselle, who suffered with lymphedema, to a weight-training program, Green found three months later that the lymphedema was reduced and that it stayed that way.
“You get tired of being a victim,” Green said. “I met with Judi six times, and she started me out very slowly with free weights and weights on the machine. We were very cautious, but I made good progress, and my arm started to get smaller.
“One of the good things is I felt like I was doing something, instead of saying, `Poor me, look at my arm.’ The exercise was very helpful. It gave me a feeling of control, and it worked. You need someone who understands lymphedema, though. That’s the key.”
There is no formal training for this kind of work, so Corsello is consulting with doctors and is learning from patients’ experience.
Corsello, a certified personal trainer who has a master of science degree in exercise science and a bachelor of science degree in physical education from Western Illinois University in Macomb, uses recommendations from the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, the Arthritis Foundation and the American Diabetes Association to provide effective and safe exercise programs for her clients.
Corsello’s sessions include cardiovascular conditioning, muscular endurance and strengthening, and flexibility.
Weight training must be individualized, however, because it can worsen the arm swelling, Maday said.
Because of the intense passion for her work with breast cancer patients and to help women become aware of how they can take care of themselves, Corsello is writing a book titled “The Basics of Training for Women Post Breast Cancer.”
With “Fitness for All” as her motto, she brings her health message to the community whenever she has the opportunity. She volunteers for special projects, such as teaching children about nutrition and exercise for the American Heart Association’s “Wild About Science” program.
“I teach the kids about making healthier snack and food choices,” Corsello said.
“The children really liked it,” said Arlene Schnipes, 5th-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Palatine. “The hands-on activities were a great way to get the children interested in the subject.”
“As a fitness professional,” Corsello said, “I took an oath to promote healthy living, so it’s my responsibility to help other people establish healthier habits.”
