Surf City Marathon holds extra meaning this year for Kathy Hess

Kathy Hess has run more than 50 marathons, but not one of them has meant as much as Saturday morning’s planned Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach.

Hess, 62, was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer on Sept. 7, 2018. Back pain triggered a trip to the doctor, and tests revealed the cancer.

Before the cancer, Hess would go running three or four times a week. But in the early parts of her more than two years of heavy chemotherapy, she could barely get out of bed at her home in the South Coast Metro area of Santa Ana.

Hess credits her Christian faith with getting her through the darkest days. She was put with a trial group through UC Irvine and Dr. Farshid Dayyani.

Hess also credits the support of her family, including her husband Gil, brother Phil Kos, sister Val Schepens and son Brad. She kept her job at Boeing through her chemotherapy, keeping her days productive.

“When this journey started, I never felt, ‘Why me?’” Kathy Hess said. “I felt, ‘What can I do to be stronger? What can I do to let others know about hope and what faith is?’”

Hess was in a wheelchair for a while, and she lost her hair during the chemotherapy. But through the journey, Hess started running again. She participated in the “Run for a Claus” 5K at UC Irvine in late 2019, and again at the Surf City Marathon 5K in February 2020.

In June 2020, Hess’ test results revealed no more cancer, a moving moment for the whole family. And when this year’s marathon was pushed to September due to the coronavirus pandemic, that fit perfectly for Hess.

This week is the third anniversary of her original diagnosis.

Kathy Hess, center, smiles for a portrait with her loved ones, from left, older sister Val Schepens, childhood friend Julie Seymour-Henry, husband Gil Hess, son Brad and younger brother Phil Kos.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer)

“It’s just real emotional,” said Schepens, who lives in Costa Mesa. “Two years ago, we didn’t think we’d be here today. She has such a passion for running. I’ve always been her sherpa. We’ve run many marathons together, and she’s the hare and I’m the turtle … For us to be able to be a part of this with her is just a miracle. I’m planning to run the last three miles with her. I probably still won’t be able to keep up, because she’ll be so fast.”

Hess’ husband definitely sees a parallel between her marathon training, which includes three Boston Marathons, and her cancer fight.

“It’s been her discipline over all of those 50-plus marathons that allowed her to be inspired, focused and disciplined to fight this battle,” Gil Hess said. “The same focus and inspiration and discipline it takes to run a marathon 50 times, has got to carry over to the fight that she had with this cancer.”

Kathy Hess has friends and family who are running the half-marathon and 5K on Saturday, but she is the only one running the full marathon. However, her sister and brother plan to run the final miles by her side.

She said her goal is just to finish the marathon, though she added that she would like to finish with a time between 4 hours, 30 minutes and 5 hours.

When you’ve been through what she’s been through, 26.2 miles doesn’t have to seem all that daunting.

“I want to give the message to other people fighting cancer that they’ve got the fight in them,” she said. “They’ve got to believe that they’ve got it in them.”

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