Lauren Spiezia, a 32-year-old mother from New Jersey, completed the New York City Marathon on Sunday topless, proudly displaying her mastectomy and reconstruction scars as a powerful statement following her breast cancer diagnosis.
Spiezia finished the 26.2-mile race with an official time of four hours and 54 minutes, running with special anti-chafing tape as support. She had been diagnosed with stage 2 triple-negative cancer in one breast and stage 1 ER/PR-positive cancer in the other at age 31, also learning she carried the BRCA2 gene mutation.
Her treatment involved 16 rounds of chemotherapy and eight rounds of immunotherapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Spiezia initially set a goal to run a half marathon during her recovery, which eventually grew into the ambition to tackle the New York City Marathon.
Prior to the race, Spiezia shared her motivation on Instagram, stating, "Today, I’m running the NYC Marathon with my scars uncovered, because I’m still here. I’m running for the women and men in the treatment chair who need a reminder of their resilience. I’m running for the 1 in 8 U.S. women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, and for every woman who doesn’t know her risk yet. And I’m running for me, because my scars are not something to hide. They’re the evidence that I fought and lived."
Spiezia ran as an official member of the hospital's Fred's Team during Sunday's event. Her journey began after discovering a lump, initially dismissed by her OB-GYN due to her age. However, further investigation by a breast surgeon confirmed the aggressive diagnoses.
