Looking Back: One foot in front of the other

A Providence medical assistant from Medford went from battling cancer to running ultra marathons.

And 8 year old boy.

Two lifetime's worth of tests and overcame them all.

Today we look back at her accomplishments as newswatch 12's amateur athlete.

Karen baas is up before the sun... as she trains for the premier long-distance relay race.

(take karen key) karen baas says, "i jumped at the opportunity because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to do hood to coast."

She's been training with friends for years now for this moment.

They're the ones karen gives some of the credit to in helping her prepare for this big race.

Baas says, "they kept saying, 'well, we can go one more mile.

Let's just go one more mile.'

And before you knew it, on weekdays, i'm doing ten miles every day."

But it wasn't always like that... karen, for the majority of her life, was never really a runner.

In 2010, she was a single mom of two and a medical assistant for a local doctor.

That same doctor urged her one day to get a c-t scan after karen mentioned a pain in her neck.

Baas says, "within a week i had the report back that i did have hodgkin's lymphoma."

But karen was determined to not let it slow her down.

Baas says, "it was a whirlwind.

It never processed to me.

It-- it was life."

So six-plus months of radiation and chemo therapy followed when one day her cousin, had an idea.

She asked karen if she wanted to run a marathon with her.

Take kathy key kathy de jong says, "i thought even if we walked together, however, it would just be powerful to get through it together."

(topic key up) when they finally got to the starting line later that year... de jong says, "i think pretty much everyone's first marathon what's going through their head is 'what--what in the heck did we sign up for?'" after a long day of walking, running, and even some dancing, karen and kathy crossed the finish line together.

(take gary key for 4 seconds) gary baas says, "at that point, i don't think that she ever thought she was going to run another one."

Little did they know, that was only the first of many.

(take edward key) dr. edward helman says, "i guess at first, because i hadn't seen that in someone who hadn't been a runner, so soon after chemotherapy say, 'well, ok, i'm going to go on a run.'

Yeah ok, you run around the block a couple of times.

She says, 'no i just ran nine miles and i'm getting ready to do a half-marathon next weekend.'" running helped karen more than physically recover, too.

(topic key up) gary says, "definitely has more confidence in herself and her own abilities, definitely... she's not, she doesn't back down, she stands righ tup to it."

Helman says, "karen's just the poster child for 'this is what you can do' and 'i'm not going to be beaten down by bad news.'

I'm going to go and... that's in her past and now she's just a healthy person that marathons and ultra-marathons."

With a new lease on life, karen said the key to her recovery started every morning she was undergoing treatment.

Baas says, "you can't stay in bed.

You've got to keep moving, keep putting