Cancer survivors celebrate coach at Northwest Family YMCA

By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

It may have been gray and drizzly outdoors Wednesday, Aug. 29, but the mood was sunny under the pavilion at the Northwest Family YMCA in Baldwinsville as dozens of people gathered to celebrate the YMCA of Greater Syracuse’s 2018 Cancer Survivors Barbecue.

More than 80 survivors, many of them clad in yellow Livestrong shirts, came together not only to celebrate their health and perseverance but also to celebrate one of the people who helped them along the way. In a new tradition for the annual barbecue, survivors chose to honor Livestrong coach and breast cancer support program coordinator Gina Rohde of Fulton.

“She just has this really genuine, welcoming, non-judgmental personality,” said Stephanie Michaels, health and wellness supervisor for the YMCA of Greater Syracuse. “She makes you feel very comfortable instantly. She makes you feel you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.”

Rohde leads Livestrong groups at both the Northwest Family YMCA and the North Area YMCA in Liverpool. Livestrong is a 12-week exercise and support program for people who have been diagnosed with cancer. Michaels said the program helps people “get to know their body again” by improving strength, balance, stamina and flexibility.

While survivors strengthen their bodies with the exercises in the Livestrong program, they also build bonds with each other and with their coaches.

“Everyone in the class, she makes them a family,” said Ethel Dell’Aquila, a four-year survivor who resides in Liverpool.

Dell’Aquila is one of Rohde’s “Golden Girls.” She and her friends, Pat Howe and Eileen Rosecrants, are the Dorothy, Blanche and Rose to Rohde’s Sophia. Once the women completed their Livestrong sessions, Rohde signed them up for regular fitness classes.

“She’s full of energy. Her spirit is indomitable,” said Rosecrants, a three-year survivor who lives in Baldwinsville. “She watches over us and takes care of us.”

Howe, a four-year survivor, said Rohde is encouraging, loving and fearless.

While the Golden Girls heaped praise upon Rohde and the rest of their Livestrong instructors, Rohde said she was not the one who should be lauded.

“They’re the heroes. I’m not,” Rohde said. “They motivate and inspire me to get up every morning. I’ve never been through what they’ve been through, but my family has.”

Rohde lost her mother and her grandmother to breast cancer, and her father is a 20-year survivor of breast cancer. Her work with Livestrong and Laurie’s Hope, the YMCA’s breast cancer support program, joins her passion for fitness with honoring her family’s memory.

Rohde said she admires the strength of the survivors in her classes, many of whom attended Livestrong while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation.

“They [were] sick as a dog and they came and did the workouts,” she said. “They make me want to be the best, best, best coach I can be.”

“Cancer stops your life. It puts it on hold, and Livestrong gave it back to us,” Dell’Aquila said.

To learn more about Livestrong and other programs for cancer survivors the YMCA offers, visit syracuse.ymca.org/programs/healthy-living/fitness/livestrong.html.