By Anne Levin

For survivors of cancer, regaining physical strength and stamina can be especially challenging. That aspect of recovery is the focus of Livestrong at the YMCA, a free, nationwide program designed to get adult cancer survivors back on their feet after treatment.

On hold during the pandemic, the Princeton YMCA’s 12-week Livestrong program is resuming on Wednesday, November 7, with daytime and evening sessions. The classes are 75 minutes each, taught by instructors specially trained in supportive cancer care. The program is free, and available from the day of diagnosis on.

Participants, who usually meet in groups of up to six, are given exercises and activities centered on cardiovascular and meditation techniques. But the goal is to strengthen the spirit as well as the body.

“The primary focus is building muscular strength and endurance,” said Kristin Leung, the group exercise coordinator at the YMCA. “But stepping out of that, we do expand to other modalities of wellness in general. It might be a yoga class, or water fitness. We’ve had people come in and do music therapy and art therapy. We had a survivor who brought in her chemo bottles and we decorated them. We made sushi one time. So I really welcome the staff at the Y to come if they have something special to share.”

Leung, who has a dance, fitness, and yoga background, began training with the Livestrong program in 2011, when she was teaching aquatics at the YMCA. “We were one of the first Y cohorts to try this program,” she said. “I had some background in exercise science at the time, but none working with cancer survivors.”

With her first group, she was terrified. “I thought I had no business doing this,” she said. “But they thought I would be perfect for it. I got the training, and I had the empathy and caring to get to know people. We’re not focusing on cancer. I’m helping these people to carve out time in their lives that is just for them. It’s not part of their treatment. It’s something they are doing for themselves, separate from that.”

Leung realized the importance of the program early on. “People told me that once they finished their treatments, they were kind of left on their own,” she said. “That’s why the program was developed.”

Livestrong at the YMCA was suspended at all of the participating Y’s during the pandemic. “We felt strongly that because of the nature of this program, we didn’t want people trying new exercises at home, especially if they were weakened and on their own,” Leung said. “Now that we’re back, I have trained our other wellness coordinator and brought back another instructor who had left during COVID. We are really excited to get the new cohorts going.”

Over the years, Leung has had the rewarding experience of watching some clients regain their strength and thrive. But there are those who eventually relapse, and lose their battles with the disease.

“It was very hard when I started, and people passed, and I started attending funerals,” she said. “But part of our training is that there are some things you can do. My role as a coordinator is to check in with the other two instructors and make sure they are OK.”

Not everyone finishes the program. “Generally, folks who are not doing well don’t continue because they’re too tired,” Leung said. “But they can still come and sit with us.”

The core focus is on physical well-being and fitness, “trying to redeem what cancer and treatment have taken away,” Leung said. “I’ve come to appreciate the time I do have with these people. Working with them literally changed my outlook on life. I reframed it. Most of them are so grateful to be there, and to have my expertise and my ear, and for all of us to be together. There’s not a day that goes by that I forget that — how lucky we are to be here.”

The November 7-February 2 series of classes are Tuesdays and Fridays from 12 to 1:15 p.m., and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. Learn more at gscymca.org/livestrong, or contact leung at kleung@gscymca.org.