Gold Coast Marathon: Tarhynee Shepherd’s heartbreaking story behind incredible Half Marathon photo

As she crossed the finish line of the Half Marathon yesterday this Gold Coast mum could no longer contain her emotion. Here’s her incredible tale of resilience.

AS she crossed the finish line of the Gold Coast Half Marathon yesterday Coomera mum Tarhynee Shepherd could no longer contain her emotion.

On Saturday night the 25-year-old lost her uncle to cancer, five years after surviving her own battle with the disease.

Diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma at just 19 years old, she was told it had covered her chest, lungs, throat and pancreas.

With her trachea swollen to “the size of a popper straw”, she was given just two hours to live.

“I was put into an induced coma and they operated to put a titanium stent in my trachea, so I was able to continue my treatment on from there,” she said.

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Tarhynee said people around her wondered why she was so emotional at the finish line. Photograph: Jason O'Brien

“I had eight or nine months of chemotherapy, I went back to work almost nine months later. It was a fairly quick recovery process.

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“I was back working, I was doing my day to day stuff, but it took a while because going from being in a hospital bed every day and not seeing anybody to being shoved back into society and told you’re all good, it does take a while to adapt.”

Now five years on from her ordeal Tarhynee said she’s committed to doing all she can to raise funds for cancer research. Last year she took on the Half Marathon for the first time with no training.

CHAFFEY RETURNS IN STYLE IN MARATHON

The finish meant more than anyone around her realised. Photograph: Jason O'Brien

“Last year was the first time I’d ever actually heard of the Gold Coast Marathon,” she said.

“This year I was a little more prepared. It was something I thought I’d only do once but I think any opportunity to raise money for a great organisation and help others suffering is good.”

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But just hours before starting her run for Cancer Council she was given heartbreaking news — her uncle Vernon Masso had lost his battle with throat cancer.

Tarhynee was given heartbreaking news before her run. Photograph: Jason O'Brien

He left behind a wife and children.

She said as she crossed the finish line it was not only that loss, but the reality of just how far she’s come from that hospital bed which really hit her.

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“Crossing that finish line today it made me feel a little bit like a superhero, as cheesy as that sounds,” she said.

“Just knowing I was able to do something on someone else’s behalf, so we can continue to do research, it’s an indescribable feeling.

“Memories flow back and you just get to think of how far you’ve come, from being in a wheelchair and having physiotherapy to now running marathons. It’s something I’d never thought I would do.”