"I needed a new way to remember and honor my husband."
My Embark Story: Camille Honors Husband by Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro
01.08.2018
“Life’s like an EKG. Without the ups and downs, you’re not living.”
This is how Camille Otruba, a nurse who lives in Temple, PA, has come to think about the good and bad things that happen in life.
In July of 2010, Camille married her college sweetheart, Bryan. This was truly one of her greatest “ups” that was unfortunately followed too closely by a terrible “down.” Just a few months after she married Bryan, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and after a four and a half year battle, filled with many ups and downs, he passed away in February 2015.
Putting one foot in front of the other and carrying on an annual tradition, Camille and her family attended the Light the Night Walk in the fall of 2015. The fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) had been a staple of the family’s schedule for several years as Bryan fought his battle with the disease. But instead of carrying a red balloon to label herself a supporter, this time she carried gold meaning “in memory of” Bryan.
“For me, carrying gold gave the event a whole different meaning,” she says. “It was a much less joyful event; it almost felt like I was back at the funeral. I appreciate people saying ‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ but being a widow at 27, I didn’t know how to handle hearing that over and over. I’m a joyful and happy person, and Bryan would want me to be just that.”
That’s when she realized she had a choice to make.
“I needed a new way to remember and honor my husband,” she says. “He was active and loved the outdoors. He convinced me to run my first 5k with him a couple months before we got married. Bryan even ran a 5K six months after getting a stem cell transplant. Between remission and relapse, Bryan and I had a spontaneous long weekend on the Appalachian Trail.We certainly had plenty of ups and downs, but the happiest I remember seeing him was our wedding day and that weekend.”
“It was truly inspirational, Bryan wanting to get back to normal living so badly,” she says. “He was not letting cancer get in the way of what he loved to do.”
In August of 2012 Camille and Bryan had teamed up with other family members for a mini triathlon in Massachusetts. After his passing, she went back and did the same triathlon by herself. “I think it’s great to impress yourself every now and then,” she says.
In 2016, she did another triathlon in DC, this time with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s TEAM in Training program. In exchange for fundraising efforts, they train individuals to complete physical fitness activities. Camille set a fundraising goal of $2,000 but actually raising $7,000 in less than five months.
“Surpassing what I had planned to raise and then completing the race alongside others with a similar goal just made me feel so great about the whole experience,” she says.
But it wasn’t just the money she raised; there was, of course, a deeply personal aspect to it, as well.
“I had Bryan’s name on a bib on my back, and we were riding over the bridges in DC, and my bib was flapping in the wind,” she says. “I couldn’t help but feel like a superhero with my husband as my cape. I remember the joy I felt as I talked about Bryan and the way he truly lived his life. Yes, we were all there because our lives had been touched by blood cancer, this awful thing.We were also there to raise money and awareness and the spirits of those around us who couldn’t be there because they continue to fight their battles.”
Now she is taking things to a whole new level: Camille is set to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in February 2018 on a fundraising trip with LLS; Climb 2 Cure, hosted by Embark.
She is running again, with her golden doodle, Indiana Jones, as her running buddy. She is also doing a 15-week training program with a fitness coach from LLS. And she is raising money, also with coaching from LLS.
“I hiked 9.5 miles the first weekend of training,” she says. “You definitely use different muscles. I woke up the next morning, thinking ‘I didn’t realize I had that muscle!’ ”
She knows climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro will be a big challenge, but it’s one she can’t wait to face.
“Life is an adventure,” she says, “so why not make it grand? Everything happens for a reason; but I don’t know all the reasons yet. But I have been learning a lot about life and myself these last couple of years that I never knew I would.”
She also knows that she won’t be alone in this challenge. Of course, she has Embark, the whole LLS support system, the other climbers and her friends and family to cheer her on – “This is the best kind of family, happy, supportive, excited, working toward the same goal.” But she also knows Bryan will be with her all the way.
“Bryan would be happy that I’m being active, going out and living,” she says. “This is one of the best ways I can honor and remember my husband. When you’re out in nature, it’s tough not to believe in a higher power. I believe in God and I feel closer to Bryan when I am on the trail, almost like he’s my guardian angel.”
“That feeling, like my husband is close to me out in nature, is a really good feeling. In a very non-traditional sense, my husband is taking me on trip of a lifetime!
