Doctor uses exercise, humor to stay in race through colon cancer battle

WYNNEWOOD, Pa. (WPVI) -- Thousands of runners will hit the streets this weekend for the Philadelphia Marathon.

There's also a half-marathon, and Saturday's Rothman 8K.

For one runner, just being in the race is a victory.

"Without taking a deep breath in, push all the air out of your lungs," says Dr. Michael Ross to a runner hooked up for a treadmill test.

As director of the Rothman Institute's performance lab, Dr. Ross helps local athletes reach for their best.

Last year, he was the one being put to the test, after learning he had stage 4 colon cancer.

"You don't think when you're 42 that you have cancer," he says.

After consulting a host of doctors - five surgeons and four oncologists - Dr. Ross plowed into a very aggressive treatment, including seven months of chemotherapy, and two operations.

One procedure, called HIPEC, pumped heated chemo drugs through his abdomen.

His wife says he was doing everything to survive.

And so was she.

"When you think about other people who go through this, you wonder how they can stand it. But when you're in it, you just keep walking," says Wendy Ross, who is a pediatrician.

Ross says her husband's playful sense of humor, and determination to keep life relatively normal, kept the whole family positive.

"He continued to work, and he exercised almost every day," she recalls.

The only breaks he took were for chemo - three days every two weeks.

"By Tuesday, I'd try to be back in the pool, or running, or working out," he says. "I had a lot of friends who were willing to work out with me. It was great."

And his dedication to exercise included the Rothman 8K race last November.

Dr. Ross's friends and colleagues formed Team Semi-Colon.

"I had part of my colon out, so I have a semi-colon," he says with a broad smile, and a humorous twinkle in his eye.

He continues, with a reminiscent smile, "It was the slowest I've run it, but it was the best race I've had."

Now cancer-free, Dr. Ross is back to his adventures, such as a family rock-climbing trip in Utah.

"It's such a different Thanksgiving for us than it was last year," he says.

Ben, Dr. Ross' son, spent a lot of time playing cards and watching "Family Guy," with his dad during treatment.

And he's come to admire his dad's courage.

"Not just give up and say - yup, that's it. Instead you can at least have some hope and believe that something good's going to happen," says Ben.

In fact, he is donating the money that was designated for his Bar Mitzvah party next March to the research fund of Dr. Ursina Teitelbaum, his dad's oncologist.

Ben's page is: Ben Ross Semi Colon Fund.

Team Ross is also selling the semi-colon t-shirts atMyLocker.net, and raising research funds for Dr. Daniel Labow, his surgeon at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City.