Come What May: Trish May, Activist, Entrepreneur & Breast Cancer Survivor

By:
Tricia O'Brien

Imagine your 40th birthday: It probably involves a grand celebration — a band and dancing, great food and drinks, friends and family from all parts of your life. For Trish May, the big four-oh had none of those things. Instead, the then Microsoft executive was in a Seattle hospital, undergoing a lumpectomy for breast cancer.

It was 1993, and just months earlier, May had lost her mother to ovarian cancer. As she reeled from that mammoth loss, she was faced with her own mortality. "I was just in shock because I knew firsthand how terrible this disease is," she says. "I thought I was going to die. I could not believe that it would be happening to me."

While some might get lost in worry — or wallow in self-pity — May turned her situation into something positive. She used every ounce of her energy to fight the cancer, and in 2003, founded Athena Partners, a not-for-profit corporation that sells bottled water and donates 100 percent of its net profits to early-stage research for breast and gynecological cancers. "We all have in the back of our minds the concern that [the cancer] could come back. Through Athena, I am helping in some small way to make a difference and find a cure. It's a therapy of sorts — a way that I can focus and prevail and make a contribution for others."

Here's what May learned in her ongoing journey to fight women's cancers:

Exercising control

While she felt like the disease had "taken over" her body, May knew she had control over exercise and diet — and that was the best place to pour her energies. "It gave me a wonderful feeling of participating in my wellness," she says.

 

Just five days out of the hospital, May met with a personal trainer at a local health club and eventually worked up to three miles of running, three times a week, as well as strength training three times a week. She credits exercise for helping her get through the difficult effects of chemotherapy.

"I would get my chemo on Friday, and I'd be wasted Saturday, Sunday and Monday," May explains. On Tuesday, she would "crawl out of bed" to meet with her trainer, but, she says, "having that appointment, knowing this person would be there to say to me, 'You can do it; keep at it,'" was what got her out of bed.

Exercise wasn't just something May used during treatment. She continues to run and do strength training today. Diet, too, was — and continues to be — important to her. May traded in her old fast-food staples for a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables, lean meats and fish, and whole grains.

A life-altering experience

The travails didn't end with her lumpectomy: Afterward, there were six months of chemo, six weeks of radiation and then five years on the anti-estrogen drug tamoxifen — as well as surgeries for suspicious lumps that were found over the years. ("I have learned to be proactive and take charge; early detection is the key," notes May.)

"A holistic approach of exercise, diet and social connections has, together, given my life a remarkable sense of richness," she says. Her diagnosis prompted her to get involved in fundraising for women's-cancer research, an involvement that she feels helped contribute to her recovery. She also carved out more time to connect with loved ones.

In fact, throughout her ordeal, May leaned on family and friends — for rides to and from treatment, as sounding boards, to help lift her spirits. "Friends and family gave me a reprieve at certain times and snapped me out of a funk at others," she recalls.

A watershed

So, from whence did her inspiration spring for a water company? May's struggle with cancer led her to want to give back and contribute to the cause — and those who would face cancer after her. And that's where Athena Partners comes in.

 

In choosing a business model, May looked at a wide range of approaches but was most impressed with Paul Newman's line, Newman's Own, which, in the 20 years since it started, has donated more than $175 million from the sale of its grocery products to thousands of charities. When it came time to choose a product to sell, May piled three grocery carts with products from every possible category: spaghetti, pancake mix, chips. She pored over the products and asked herself questions like "What are the products that are most important to health? That everyone consumes? That other people could relate to? That could be accessible to everybody? I just kept coming back to water," she says.

She chose the name Athena because Athena is the goddess of wisdom, courage and healing, "which symbolizes many of the qualities that it takes to overcome cancer and fight for a cause that is bigger than yourself," May notes.

At the start, only those in the Pacific Northwest could drink Athena Partners water, but now it's available on Alaska Airlines flights nationwide, through Dream Dinner outlets and via the food distribution giant Sysco, which stocks hundreds of thousands of corporate cafeterias, delis, cafés and coffee shops across the country. As of September 2006, Athena had sold more than 10 million bottles of water and donated $110,000 to women's cancers. (Check out this list of places that sells Athena Partners water.)

May's messages

"I have learned the importance of early detection, monthly breast exams, seeing the doctor on a regular basis and becoming more aware of what this disease is," says May.

If you've been diagnosed with cancer, she says to "listen to your heart; trust your instincts and you'll find the way." She also encourages women to seek out information and become as informed as possible. When she was diagnosed, the Internet was not what it is today, but she was lucky to have access to Seattle's renowned Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. To make this important information easily accessible to women, Athena Partners hired the cancer center's medical librarian to compile a directory of cancer resources for its site.

So, what does all of this mean for you? "Each of us can make a difference each and every day. The greatest of challenges in your life can also present you with the greatest of opportunities," says May. "Take the first step — it doesn't have to be big — and the next steps will come into view and open a whole new world that'll be so fulfilling."