In 2021, Lucy Davidson began experiencing some symptoms that she initially just assumed were normal wear-and-tear, like radiating back pain when doing house chores. However, after two fainting spells, a doctor mentioned a mass he noticed on her pancreas. By September 2022, she was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer.
“She knew what she was going to have to face because of her profession,” Lucy’s daughter Katharine said. “She never asked what the prognosis was, she never wanted to know how long it was going to be. She wanted to be positive and believe that everything was going to be okay. And she thought that was best for her, for how she could deal with the news. She didn’t want to be living for a date.”
Having spent her career as an anesthetist, Lucy was accustomed to caring for her wide array of patients.
“She saw people at their best, she’d be in for a c-section and witness the beautiful thing of somebody giving birth,” Katharine said. “Then she saw the horrors of it all and people suffering from the various cancers, even the cancer she ultimately suffered from. It just really made her realize how grateful she should be for what she had and the life she had outside of her career.”
Outside of her career, Lucy was heavily invested in the life she built with her husband, two children, 4 grandchildren, and her overall community.
“She was just pure good, always just trying to do the right thing,” said Katharine. “She was an amazing mother who brought my brother and I up to have strong values and morals. She was an animal lover, [we] always had a dog in the house, or two or three. So you just think about her, and you can’t help but smile. It was picture perfect, you know, [our] life before diagnosis.”
Unfortunately, in January 2024 Lucy passed away following her battle against Pancreatic cancer.
Running As An Outlet For Grief
After receiving the news that her mom had Pancreatic cancer, Katharine began working through the stages of grief by using exercise as her outlet.
“Obviously when you’re in the midst of grief you are not taking care of yourself, and I definitely knew my mom would want me to take care of myself,” she said. “So when she was first diagnosed, I went from being this person who completely hates working out to, ‘Okay, I have to change the way I do things because I can’t help anybody if I haven’t made sure that I’m taking care of me.’ So I immediately got a Peloton, and started working out and lifting.”
Katharine recognized the importance of making sure she was in a place where she was physically and emotionally available to help her loved ones, by also taking time for herself too.
“I completely transformed while she was sick so that I could fill my cup in order to be strong for her,” said Katharine. “And it helped, it was an outlet, and I knew that was something I needed to continue on with [after she passed].”
In addition to working out and lifting, Katharine added running to her exercise regime.
“If I’m running, I’m running away from something,” Katharine said jokingly. “No, I hate running and I still hate running to this day. I’ll be honest, but it is so good for me, even just on a mental level. And, you know, it’s a way to keep my mom’s legacy alive, and to advertise Project Purple, [which will] hopefully bring more people on board to help with this fight.”
As Katharine continued to run, she decided to run the MDI race as a relay in Bar Harbor, Maine with her best friend and husband. As a way to honor her mom while doing the race, Katharine signed up for the Pioneer Program with Project Purple.
“It was the furthest I had ever run,” she said. “It was the most beautiful scenery by the water, and I did it. I had my Project Purple shirt on with my mom’s name on my back and purple everything. It was a way to feel so close to her and a way to raise money for this cause.”
Katharine found that she not only felt close to her mom during the race, but that her mom was her source of strength during the run.
“It just felt very freeing, and I just kept saying when it got hard that nothing’s harder than what she had to deal with, so just keep going and she’s got me,” Katharine said. “Her favorite flower was a yellow rose and I had that tattooed on my shoulder, so I often imagine that’s her hand on my shoulder pushing me forward.”
Since completing the MDI race, Katharine has also run the Project Purple Turkey Trot and has plans to continue participating in Project Purple fundraising projects whenever she can.
“I am so, so confident that Project Purple will be a huge reason as to why we find or how we find an answer,” she said. “And so it’s just something I know I want to be a part of, and I would love to even be a bigger part of in any way I can be.”
If you’d like to challenge yourself and sign up for a race, or if you just want to make a difference in the fight against Pancreatic cancer, you can find a list of all of our active events and a link to the Pioneer Program on our Events Page.
What is Project Purple’s Pioneer Program?
Our Pioneer Program is designed to allow runners to enjoy the experience of taking on an endurance challenge as a member of the Project Purple team – no matter where you want to participate.
This could mean a relay race like the MDI race, a local 5k, an ultramarathon, a cycling event, or any other endurance challenge. It allows us to get involved in new races in hopes of growing them into full-fledged teams or to make new audiences aware of our mission.
Becoming a Project Purple Pioneer is one of the biggest ways you can make an impact as it allows us to make inroads into new places and events. Click here to view our Pioneer Program Page and join us!
