Cycling was the first physical activity Sheila McGuirk embarked upon after her cancer surgery, and by taking off on the bike she reassured herself and her family that life was back to normal.

But for Sheila, normal now meant something vastly different than before. She had colon cancer and surgeons had to remove her entire colon and rectum to treat it.

Feelings of fear gripped her, and she wondered if she would live to see her children grow up. But fear was quickly replaced with a realization that, “I was one of the lucky ones,” Sheila says. “I required no additional cancer therapy, my family and friends were there for comfort and support. Life without a colon seemed like I had been given a second chance to get things right!”

Eight years later, Sheila is a competitive cyclist and remains very active with her husband and three children, who enjoy hiking and ice-skating together. An ileal pouch allows her to continue her active lifestyle and even pursue an aggressive year-round athletic training program. Sheila is a professor at the University of Wisconsin, School of Veterinary Medicine; and her expertise in the health of dairy calves takes her around the world for public speaking events.

Cancer took Sheila by surprise. A colonoscopy screening a year after her third child was born revealed extensive disease. She was just 44 years old. Yet most people are caught off-guard by cancer, she says, and need to be aware of options such as clinical trials before the disease touches them.

“I was thrown into a situation where I had to become aware very, very quickly,” Sheila says. “I want everyone to know that if you are confronted with cancer, you have options, and clinical trials are a tremendous opportunity.”

Though she did not participate in a clinical trial herself, Sheila’s experience with cancer has made her an advocate for cancer research and for early detection of cancer. As a member of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope™ Team, Sheila wants to provide motivation to fellow cancer survivors by showing them how cancer gave her that “second chance to get things right.”