Strong bonds connect this group of women:  friendship, camaraderie, support, prayer, and…… exercise?   Yes, exercise.  A three-times a week work-out date undergirds the 9 a.m. ladies, several survivors of cancer, who find support and strength during their Velocity exercise class.

Group members Lisa Adickes, Beverly Bryars , Barbara Chandler, Ava DeFreest, , Kip Goebel, and Karen Kalter, led by trainer Michaela Settlemeyer, agree they get a different kind of support from their fellow classmates. While physically strengthening their bodies they are emotionally strengthening their hearts. The ladies share each other’s stories and lives, encourage each other, pray and have grown spiritually together.  Individually drawn by friendship with Adickes, the ladies bonded into a “movable” support group.

“None of us knew each other before we started working out together.  Our common friend was Lisa,” DeFreest said.  “It was God’s doing, bringing us together,” Adickes added.
“The fitness industry is heading more toward addressing the whole person, body, mind and spirit,” said Corey Chandler, Velocity Business Director and co-owner. “Our 9 a.m. group has wholeheartedly made Velocity a long-term part of a healthier lifestyle. They are very special to us. “
The ladies credit the positive, supportive environment of Velocity as a key component of their success.  “It’s like having a personal trainer with your best friends,” Goebel said.  “Everyone is so kind and inspirational.” The t-shirts the ladies are wearing in the photo testify to their dedication.  Each member earned her shirt after completing 100 sessions at Velocity.
“We are getting in shape for life so we can participate in life,” DeFreest said. “We all started at a slower rate. We admire each other for trying hard.”

For Adickes and Kalter, their stories began more than a decade ago, when each was diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer as a young bride.  Their paths crossed when Kalter’s oncologist husband became Adickes’ physician. 
Karen was just 30 and in her first year of marriage when diagnosed with breast cancer that eventually metastasized to her brain.  After several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, she had reached the end of her rope.  She vividly remembers the day she placed her life in God’s hand of control.   She fell asleep after releasing her battle to God in prayer and awoke with a new, different and tangible sense of physical well-being and peace.  “Almost as if God sent angels to touch me,” she recounts. 

More than 20 years later, she is healed, healthy and the proud mother of a 14-year old son, born 9 years after her cancer diagnosis. 

Adickes was diagnosed with stage 4 non-hodgkin’s lymphoma 14 years ago, when she was pregnant with her son.

“Life is all about faith.  God works through trials,” she added. “After my stem cell transplant I could barely push my son around the block in a stroller. In order to do God’s work you have to have a strong body. “Working out gives Adickes hope and strength for her todays and tomorrows. 

Cancer has touched other group members as well, DeFreest as a breast-cancer survivor and Goebel, currently, as she is caretaking her ill mother. 

DeFreest started her workouts while still finishing chemotherapy.  “I was desperate.  I was so tired all the time.  I didn’t think I could do it.  It (exercising with the group) has changed my life.  I feel strong and have more endurance.”

“God has given us the strength to be here. “Kalter said. DeFreest agreed saying, “We all have a sense of peace about our disease.  We have all given it up to God.“
“In life you’ve got to have hope.  We want to leave the disease – give it to God and look forward to see the plans God has for us.” Adickes added.  

The group is open to new members. Adickes particularly hopes their story will  inspire other cancer survivors to join them.  Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the 9 a.m. ladies will be there to welcome them.  Just be ready to sweat.