SURVIVING AND THRIVING: Debbie Persaud is marking her first year of survival, after being diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, by running the New Jersey Marathon in Long Branch this Sunday. Determined to cross the finish line after 26.2 miles, she is hoping to connect with fellow cancer patients who are taking part in the race.

Running a 26.2-mile marathon is a challenge usually reserved for those in peak physical condition. But among those participating in the New Jersey Marathon in Long Branch this Sunday is a cancer survivor who has endured a year that would test even the fittest of athletes.

Debbie Persaud, a resident of Griggs Farm, finished a round of radiation treatments only three weeks ago. The 39-year-old has a catheter implanted in her chest to help battle the stage three breast cancer she learned she had just one year ago. All along, she has been running.

“I feel strong,” she says. “I’m so honored just to be alive to run this race. It has special significance because it’s the anniversary of one year of survival for me. I’ve trained for this race for the past year, and I believe it’s why I’m in such good health. Running has really helped my breathing capacity. After radiation, my chest wall had collapsed. Training to run really enabled me to build up my immune system and increase my breath.”

Ms. Persaud will be running to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She is eager to meet other cancer patients taking part in the race. She plans to run with a team of brain tumor patients from the Central New Jersey Brain Tumor Support Group. “We will be at our tent located near the start line at 6:30 a.m. on race day in case cancer patients who are entered in the race would like to get together in celebration,” she says.

While her own diagnosis came as a terrible shock, Ms. Persaud was no stranger to the disease. In 2008, she ran the New York City Marathon in honor of her husband. Jimmy Fang was only 33 when he died in 2007, after his own two-year battle with brain cancer.

“Jimmy was supposed to run the New York marathon in 2007, but he had passed away,” she says. “He was a sergeant and civil affairs specialist in the U.S. Army Reserve and I took his sergeant medal across the finish line. I actually finished his bucket list.”

Mr. Fang was in his senior year at Rutgers University when he began getting the severe headaches that led to his diagnosis. Helping him cope, Ms. Persaud never imagined that she would have her own bout with the disease. “I was raising money for cancer research since 2008. I was a cancer charity marathon runner that year, never knowing I would be a cancer patient myself,” she says. “I was diagnosed two days prior to last year’s marathon, but I did it. I ran the half-marathon.”

Raised in Oakland, Ms. Persaud graduated from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in Newark with a degree in biomedical sciences. She works for Ethicon in Somerville as the regulatory affairs manager, helping to get new drugs and medical features approved.

“I ended up using some of the products my company makes,” she says. “Sometimes work does come full circle. When it comes to breast cancer, it doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t care if you graduated from UMDNJ with a degree in biomedical sciences.”

Yet this patient has no time for self-pity. “I want people to understand I am not dying of breast cancer, I’m living with it,” she says. “There’s a difference. It starts with gratitude and attitude. I may not have control over whether my breast cancer grows or shrinks, but I do have control over how I view my situation. Breast cancer was this uninvited guest I needed to accept at this stage of my life. The lesson for me is that I accept the diagnosis but fight the prognosis. Because the mission is remission.”

Ms. Persaud’s future depends on what MRIs reveal later on. “If more chemo is necessary, I will do it,” she says. “But I know I will be crossing that finish line on Sunday, no matter what. I don’t believe what I’m doing is any astonishing feat, because there are a lot of people out there doing their best after fighting cancer for a lot longer than I have.”