11th Hour Racing's Tiffany Duncan Kidd

Leukemia Survivor/Half Marathoner

Tiffany Duncan Kidd completing the 2016 Love Run Half Marathon

By Nicholas Malfitano

Whether it’s navigating the race course or in battling leukemia, Tiffany Duncan Kidd knows how to go the distance.

A native of Ontario, Canada, Tiffany resides in Northeast Philadelphia with her husband of 8 years, Bob. The couple first met in 2006, while participating as marching band musicians in a drum and bugle corps.

It was during that experience that Tiffany would be faced with the fight of her life.

“I really didn’t present having cancer at all,” Tiffany said.

Tiffany explained she began feeling that something was not quite right near the 4th of July in 2008, when she had difficulty remembering routines for her marching band activities.

Moreover, she recalled a key moment where a young lady accidentally hit her in the thigh with a flagpole – an innocuous moment which Tiffany later credited with saving her life.

“She hit me with the flagpole and my leg didn’t bruise,” Tiffany explained. “The instep of my foot turned black-and-blue. I thought nothing of it.”

Tiffany’s symptoms of disorientation continued, which she chalked up to heat and stress in rehearsing her intricate marching band routines. She would soon learn differently.

A fellow member of the drum and bugle corps encouraged Tiffany to go to a doctor to get the bruise and other concerns checked out.

Though preliminary examinations at her family doctor appeared normal, Tiffany stated she was still concerned and had now started to hemorrhage.

The hemorrhaging led Tiffany to Holy Redeemer Hospital’s emergency room; Tiffany remarked that’s when the proverbial “stuff” hit the fan.

“At that time, all they could tell me was there was something wrong with my blood. Later that evening, the preliminary test came back and they came back and told me and Bob, who was in the room, that I had cancer,” Tiffany recalled.

 To complicate the matter, hospital personnel informed her she had disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), a condition which causes proteins in charge of the body’s blood clotting to become overactive. In addition, as the coagulation process consumes clotting factors and platelets, normal clotting is disrupted and severe bleeding can occur from various sites.

The situation became urgent, as Tiffany was then admitted to the hospital for blood and platelet transfusions. At the end of that weekend, a bone marrow biopsy confirmed the diagnosis. Tiffany was diagnosed with a form of acute myeloid leukemia, also known as Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL). Her treatment began with induction therapy starting around July 16, 2008, but her body rejected the initial ATRA treatment plan.

“I ended up in the ICU a few short days into treatment. They were concerned about fluid that had surrounded my heart…” Tiffany said. “But I survived the week in ICU, continued the rest of induction treatments, three consolidation treatments (totally nearly 6 months in and out of the hospital, numerous blood and platelet transfusions) and then 2 more years of maintenance chemotherapy...8 years later, here I am.”

But, subsequent to the completion of the induction round of chemotherapy, a wonderful occasion took place as Tiffany’s then-boyfriend Bob proposed marriage at the site of their first date in December 2006, the Oceanaire Seafood Room restaurant in Center City (which has since closed).

Tiffany Duncan Kidd met her husband Bob Kidd in 2006. The couple recently celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary

The couple were married in October 2008, and Tiffany would return to the hospital directly following the wedding ceremony. But no matter what came to pass, Tiffany displayed the resilience and will to battle on.

“You can choose your attitude, you can choose how you’re going to approach it, you can choose how you’re going to deal with it, and you can choose how you’re going to move through it,” Tiffany said. “I will do what it takes to get to the next step. And I’ll just keep getting to the next step, because there’s always going to be a next step.”

Speaking of steps, Tiffany began her running endeavors in Philadelphia by participating in a “Light The Night” walk in FDR Park for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) in 2009; a tough task, as she dealt with overcoming atrophy in her legs following her long hospital stays.

  

Involvement with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society inspired Tiffany Duncan Kidd to sign up for her first half marathon, the Philadelphia Half Marathon

A later meeting with members of Team In Training, the flagship fundraising arm of LLS, inspired Tiffany to sign up for the Philadelphia Half Marathon in 2010. “It didn’t dawn on me to not do it. Why wouldn’t you?” Tiffany said.

 Though the event proved a challenge, particularly since Tiffany missed many days of training while she was still going through maintenance chemo treatments, she remembers that she was doing her best to keep her eyes on the prize, not look back and get to the next mile. Support from her Team In Training coaches and fellow cancer survivor Steve Brown kept her focused in the race’s concluding miles, as she walked the entire race.

“I remember being incoherent, I remember not being able to talk, I remember not being able to walk, my feet were all turned in to each other towards the center line,” Tiffany said of Miles 10-13 in the Philadelphia Half Marathon.

When warned that she could be pulled off the course if necessary, Tiffany responded by gutting it out and walking across the finish line. She would later go on to participate in “11 or 12” half marathons, win the Spirit Of Valley Forge - Triumph Over Adversity Award in the 2012 Valley Forge Revolutionary 5-Mile Run, completed numerous local 5K-10-Mile distance runs and is currently training for her second marathon.

Initially, while trying to gain strength back in her legs, Tiffany walked and used a Run/Walk/Run method to complete her races. It wasn’t until The Philly 10K last year that she finally completed an entire race while running.

“The mantra of it is what really mattered; step-by-step, mile-by-mile,” Tiffany said. “I live. I do it because I can. So you pick what you can do, and do it too.”

Tiffany added she tries to participate in as many fundraising events and races as possible, including those for 11th Hour Racing. “I love that they paint houses, help clean up yards, grocery shop for people and help provide money for bills that are extraneous,” Tiffany commented.

Tiffany also reaches out to other people with cancer, who are fighting the same battle that she has. Her emphatic message of resilience resonates still.

“You spend your life with cancer living, not dying. There’s an opportunity that can still be held onto,” Tiffany concluded.


11th Hour exists because no family should endure the added burden of financial hardship while they are fighting cancer. We seek to lessen or even eliminate these burdens, so patients may focus on recovery, and their families on spending time with their loved ones.

If you are able, please help 11th Hour Racing support people in our city fighting cancer, and unable to pay their bills by making a tax-deductible donation. Your support will prevent evictions, purchase food, clothing, medicine, and ensure utilities are not shut off.

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