This holiday season Dr. Amy Miller and her husband Dr. Greg Miller hosted their family’s Thanksgiving celebration and they have a lot to celebrate.

On March 15, Amy was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Soon after, she endured a 21-day hospitalization. An avid distance runner, she continued training whenever possible and on April 23, she completed the St. Luke’s Half Marathon. (This portion of her story was featured in a spring edition of the East Penn Press.)

This extended run marked the beginning of a longer, arduous treatment regimen. From late April to Sept. 26, Amy received chemotherapy in addition to blood and platelet transfusion therapy. As she felt able, she ran.

On Oct. 26, the good news came: she is in full remission. Although she will be going for monthly blood work and bimonthly visits to her oncologist, Amy has no restrictions. She will return to work in her medical practice after Thanksgiving and is resuming her normal activities.

However, in her words, “My life is being restored slowly.” A woman of deep religious faith, Amy acknowledges the hardships of cancer treatment, but she also views her experience as a gift which has altered her life journey in positive ways. She returns to her three great loves – family, medicine and running – with an altered perspective. Profoundly thankful for family celebrations and the opportunity to take a deferred trip to Florida with just her husband, she now views the practice of medicine from a patient’s as well as a doctor’s viewpoint.

The Nov. 12 St. Luke’s Half Marathon marked the beginning of the second phase of Amy’s treatment; St. Luke’s D & L (Delaware & Lehigh) Half Marathon marked its end. Unlike the spring racecourse which she had run before, like life after cancer, the D & L Half Marathon covered new territory. En route she found herself stopping to appreciate the beauty of the trail which she compares to the “ ... fall glory [of] finishing my cancer treatment.”

As she returns to a full schedule of balancing family, medical practice and running commitments, Amy realizes the need to work on processing her experience and healing emotionally. Thankfully, she stands at the starting line of a new stage of life ready to resume the race.