Minn. Woman Finishes Boston Marathon Against The Odds
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Thousands of runners finished the Boston Marathon on Monday, something that was taken away from many of them last year.
Fifty-one-year-old Elinor Scott of St. Louis Park was just three-quarters of a mile from finishing her dream, when two explosions forced her off the course.
And because she's battling pancreatic cancer, Scott didn't know if she'd ever get another chance.
"Boston really is special," Elinor said. "It is different than other marathons."
She vowed to come back and finish after last year's marathon, but months later, the mother of four was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer.
"There were definitely times when I thought it might be just too hard to get myself there," she said.
But Scott was determined to finish what she started. Even after a surgery in March and a round of chemo the week before the marathon, organizers let her on the course to claim what was taken away.
And when the Boston's crowd saw her, they went absolutely crazy.
"It was just an amazing thing. And it was really like, it brought tears to our eyes, it was very moving," Scott said.
With her sister by her side, Scott walked about a mile to make last year's race official.
A year after she started running Boston, she finally crossed the finish line, finding enough strength at the end to run once again.
"Running and walking that amount was much harder than it was to run a marathon ever in my life," she said.
But best of all, her daughter Martha was waiting for her at the end. Martha was also waiting last year just feet away from the first blast.
This time, mother and daughter finally got the finish they deserve.
"It was really, really satisfying to have her there and to know that she got to have that experience accomplished as well," Scott said.
She is receiving chemotherapy treatments every other week now, and she looks at the future as taking baby steps.
Scott's hoping to get strong enough to start doing some running in the swimming pool.