In October 2019—as she was preparing for week three in the 2020 CrossFit Open—Catherine Payne went in for a quick scan of what she believed to be a cyst in her left breast. But one week later, she had canceled her gym membership altogether and was preparing for what would be 13 grueling months of treatment, including chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. Suddenly, she was competing against stage three breast cancer.

Catherine was diagnosed with non-metastatic stage three breast cancer. In a near-instant, her focus shifted from barbells and burpees to fertility treatments, chemotherapy, and what would become a grueling 13-months of active treatment.

“It almost feels like it’s happened to somebody else, only because you change so much. All of a sudden, in like a week, you’re put on a lot of limitations. You're either told things you can't do or you yourself say things like, ‘I’m too scared to do that.’ You just feel very limited.

And I know with COVID everybody went through a similar experience, but I was on lockdown before lockdown started.”

A global pandemic could have greatly complicated an already taxing experience, but in the midst of her physically punishing treatment schedule that included five months of chemotherapy, a unilateral mastectomy, four weeks of radiation, and another ten weeks of oral chemotherapy, Catherine found that quarantine life had unintended advantages.

“My work was naturally switching to work from home, and I identify with my work a lot, so being able to continue through that and still be a good contributor was important. And then ROW was offering virtual, which was great because it was a safe way to try something new.”