CLEVELAND — Sarah Chokan can't feel the right side of her body.
“If I’m not looking at my feet or anything, I won’t be able to feel it or know where in space my limbs are, so I really rely on my vision," Sarah said.
She’s a runner and enjoys music while on the trail. But she has to keep the phone in her left hand.
“I would be afraid that I would drop it if I get distracted," Chokan said. "Sometimes I don’t even remember that I have something in my right hand.”
It’s one after-effect of a stroke six years ago. She was only 22.
“I started feeling tingling in my face," Chokan said. "I tried calling my mom. And by that point, I wasn’t able to speak.”
She suffered what’s called an Arteriovenous Malformation, which caused brain bleeding. She had to learn to walk and talk again.
“The ER was asking me my last name, my birthday... and I couldn’t articulate it," Chokan said.
She was right-handed, but had to learn to use her left hand for some tasks. She didn’t think running again was possible.
But she's now running in half-marathons again. When she does run, the right side of her body is in the back of her mind.
“If I start wobbling on one side, then I’d be more likely to be injured," Chokan said. "And I don’t necessarily know if I’ll be able to feel an injury.”
Her dad Jeffrey Willmann said his drive is what helped him beat Esophageal cancer in 2016. He was given less than a year to live. He changed doctors and underwent chemotherapy, and the cancer went into remission. He relapsed several times. At one point, both he and his daughter were in the hospital.
“When it’s yourself, you deal with that and it’s hard," Jeffrey Willmann said. "But when you see your child going through it, it’s even harder.”
Chokan said worried her father’s cancer would keep him from attending her wedding, yet he beat those odds as well, walking her down the aisle.
“This is the shortest race we’re gonna run," Jeffrey Willmann said.
They’ll both be in a longer race at the Cleveland Marathon. Chokan said that this is becoming a tradition, reminding them how far they’ve come.
“Just because there are odds stacked against you doesn’t mean that it’s impossible," Chokan said.
“We have to take each day as it comes and never take a day for granted," Jeffrey Willmann said.
This year, her mom will tag along. She said both her husband and daughter’s stories gave her a reason to try.
“They’ve endured a lot, so if they can go through everything that they went through, I can get to the end of this marathon," said Laurie Willmann, Chokan's mom.