Photo courtesy Jun Matugas

Argie Matugas, of Mukilteo, was diagnosed with two types of tumors within a matter of weeks in 2008.  It was the wake-up call Matugas needed to start caring about her health again.  Now, she eats right and exercises regularly – including training for and running in the 2010 Run-A-Muk 5K.

 

In the Run-A-Muk marathon on Aug. 28, Argie Matugas ran the 5K, reaching the finish line with a time of 33:25.  Just two years ago, she would’ve said that it wasn’t possible.

 

Back then, Matugas, now 46, was overweight, unhappy and very pessimistic.  She’d been like that for years.  Her?  Run a 5K?  Yeah, right.

 

But then, in 2008, she was diagnosed with two types of tumors within a matter of weeks.  It was the wake-up call Matugas needed to start caring about her health again.

 

In 1999, Matugas’ mother died of Leukemia.  Losing her mom was hard on Matugas – they had been very close – and she slipped into depression.  She felt hopeless, guilty, irritable, restless and anti-social.

 

To cope with her loss, Matugas turned to food.

 

“I let myself go,” she said.  “I would eat just about anything and everything.  I didn’t care about what I put inside my body, and I didn’t exercise.  I wasn’t motivated at all to exercise.  I hated it.”

 

She gained 35 pounds.  

 

Her greatest vice was chocolate.  Matugas would sneak bags of M&Ms and Hershey’s bars home without her husband knowing, and snack on them while watching TV. Alone.

 

Matugas knew it was pathetic, but she couldn’t stop.  

 

Until two years ago.

 

While in for a routine checkup, Matugas told her doctor about some abdominal pain she’d been having.  When antibiotics didn’t help the pain go away, she returned for a pelvic exam.

 

 And that’s when her doctor felt something.  With an MRI, it was determined that there was fibrous tissue growth – a tumor about the size of a softball  – in Matugas’ right ovary.  

 

Her doctor sent her to Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, where an oncologist scheduled her for surgery the following week.  The doctor wasn’t sure if it was cancerous or not – but she wasn’t going to wait to find out.

 

“I wasn’t ready at all,” Matugas said of the surgery.  “It was a total shock to me that she said it needed to be taken care of right away.”

 

She had the surgery, then relief:  The tumor wasn’t cancerous.

 

While recuperating, Matugas’ doctor – a family friend – started insisting that she get a mammogram.  Matugas had never had a mammogram, never thought that she’d need a mammogram, but to please her friend, she scheduled one anyway.  

 

“We don’t have any history of breast cancer or anything like that – nothing – so I kept telling her ‘No, I don’t need it,’” she said.  “‘Why would I?  I know I don’t have anything.’”

 

But she did have something:  The doctor saw a calcification in her left breast, and told Matugas she needed to get a biopsy.

 

“I couldn’t believe it,” Matugas said.  “To find another tumor after just two weeks of recuperating after a surgery to remove a tumor?  I just couldn’t believe it.”

 

There was relief again:  The calcification was not cancerous.

 

Matugas’ good fortune got her thinking.  

 

“I was thinking, ‘What am I doing wrong here?’” she said.  “It was a self-revelation to me that my body is getting to that age now where I can’t neglect my health anymore.”

 

“These two things happening to me, and turning out the way they did, were like a second chance for me to live a healthy life,” she said.  “I couldn’t go on living like that.”

 

So she changed her lifestyle.  She started eating a lot of fish, fruits and vegetables, and cut red meat, white rice, candy and soda from her diet.

 

She started going to the gym and joined Seattle Fit, a fitness group that walks and runs every Saturday.  She also signed up for hot yoga, Pilates and Zumba classes.

 

Her routine includes walking the dog and running 3-9 miles around her Harbour Pointe neighborhood.  Sometimes, her husband, Jun, joins her for company.

 

“I’ll be running along with her… and then all of a sudden she’ll be way ahead,” he said.  “When she really gets into it, really focused, she leaves me behind.”

 

At 5 feet 2, inches Matugas is now a healthy 103 pounds.

 

She credits her success to The Three D’s:  Discipline, Determination and Dedication.

 

“If I have time to eat and sleep, then I have time to exercise,” Matugas said.  “There’s no excuse.

 

“And when I talk about exercise, I’m not talking about running a marathon right away. I’m talking about spending 20-30 minutes a day moving.”

 

Before the 5K on Aug. 28, Matugas also ran the 10K for Run-A-Muk in 2009.  Exercising, especially running, is fun for Matugas again.

 

“When I get stressed out at work, or I when I have some other personal problems, I find it so relaxing to run,” she said.  “It’s a de-stresser. Some people go out drinking, some people go out dancing… I go out and run.”

 

Friends now ask Matugas for weight-loss advice.  She’s an inspiration for them to start eating right and exercising, too.  Matugas is honored to share her story.  

 

She is thankful her family and friends saw both sides of her – her downs and her ups – and how she made the change, in body and attitude.

 

“They saw her when she was going through all these hardships, and how she turned her life around to a better future, a better life,” her husband said.  

 

Added Argie Matugas:  “And they saw that anything is possible.”