{"id":28239,"date":"2019-02-11T11:43:24","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T16:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=28239"},"modified":"2024-07-02T17:10:33","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T17:10:33","slug":"battaglini-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=28239","title":{"rendered":"Exercise program helps patients manage cancer symptoms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carolina professor Claudio Battaglini traded in a career coaching world-class athletes to train cancer patients and survivors, helping them live longer and healthier lives.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Claudio
Claudio Battaglini is the program director of Get Real and Heel. (photo by Donn Young)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cathy Huffman was never an exercise person, and she was never a support group person, either.<\/p>\n

So, when she joined an \u201cexercise support group\u201d after finishing treatment for ovarian cancer in 2015, she was a little surprised by how much she loved it.<\/p>\n

Four years after her treatment, she credits that group \u2014 UNC-Chapel Hill\u2019s Get Real and Heel<\/a> \u2014 for both her health and some of her closest friendships.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really do think it keeps the cancer at bay,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it reduces the possibility of recurrence. And it also helps you cope. There\u2019s just no question about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get Real and Heel is a fitness group for cancer patients and survivors. It has been part of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center<\/a>\u2019s holistic support programs for more than a decade, having served more than 1,000 patients since 2006.<\/p>\n

For program director Claudio Battaglini<\/a>, the path to founding Get Real and Heel was full of twists and turns.<\/p>\n

A different kind of athlete<\/h2>\n

Before he became a professor of exercise physiology in the College of Arts & Sciences<\/a> exercise and sports science program and before Get Real and Heel, Battaglini wasn\u2019t interested in exercise oncology at all. In fact, he didn\u2019t even know exercise oncology existed.<\/p>\n

He was a soccer star, the coach of a world-championship team in his native Brazil, and he dreamed of coaching athletes all the way to Olympic glory. When he took a job coaching the Brazilian triathlon team in the mountains of Colorado, life threw Battaglini a curveball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you to train a cancer patient,\u201d he recalled a faculty member at the University of Northern Colorado who he met while he was wandering the halls one day.<\/p>\n

\"Battaglini
Battaglini has worked with hundreds of patients, hoping to offer them a better quality of life through exercise \u2014 everything from stationary biking and stair-stepping to weight training and balance exercises. (Photo by Donn Young)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Battaglini was surprised by the request.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018No, no, no. I don\u2019t want anything to do with this. That\u2019s not what I do. I train some of the strongest guys in the world.\u2019 But how could I say no?\u201d<\/p>\n

He agreed to meet the patient. She was his age, only 24, and battling brain cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I met her, she was very pale, very weak,\u201d Battaglini remembered. \u201cShe said, \u2018The doctors gave me six months to live, and two have already passed, so can we get started?\u2019 I said, \u2018Alright, let\u2019s go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Battaglini began to train her, using physical fitness as a tool to improve her quality of life and help her regain strength after chemotherapy treatments. She lived for two and a half more years. At one point, her cancer even disappeared.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredible. It shockedme,\u201d Battaglini said. \u201cAnd it started raising questions in my mind: How much does exercise impact patients\u2019 quality of life and impact their survival long term? So, believe it or not, right then I ended up changing careers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Optimizing patient care<\/h2>\n

In her honor, Battaglini\u2019s career in exercise oncology was born. When he got a call from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asking him to interview for a teaching position in the department of exercise and sport science<\/a>, he jumped at the opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018I don\u2019t remember applying for any job,\u2019\u201d Battaglini said, laughing. \u201cBut I knew of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and, of course, it\u2019s a great University with great sports teams. And here I am almost 15 years later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then Battaglini has worked with hundreds of UNC Hospital patients, hoping to offer them a better quality of life through exercise \u2014 everything from stationary biking and stair-stepping to weight training and balance exercises.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our main goals is to help them regain their strength, their endurance, and give them the support that they need to live a healthy life for many, many years to come,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Huffman believes the program has done just that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just amazing,\u201d she said. \u201cThe benefits \u2013 not only of the physical exercise but the benefits mentally \u2013 have been amazing. Being with a small group of people who understand what you\u2019ve been through and what you\u2019re going through, it really helps.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the program continues to grow, the Get Reel and Heel team is working to quantify the impact of exercise on recovery so that one day exercise therapy can become a fundamental part of cancer care.<\/p>\n

The program\u2019s new telehealth feature, which connects off-site patients with trainers via a computer screen, will also help Get Real and Heel reach patients in rural areas of North Carolina who might not otherwise have access to this type of support.<\/p>\n

As for Battaglini, the decision to trade in Olympic medals for the reward of helping patients live their fullest and healthiest lives was one of the best he\u2019s ever made.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the Olympics, I love the gold medals, but in the big scheme of things, I made the right choice,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel that I contribute to this community and the pursuit of better treatment for cancer patients. If I can be one of the contributors to optimizing patient care, that\u2019s the reward. Giving them hope \u2014 that\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Emilie Poplett, University Communications<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carolina professor Claudio Battaglini traded in a career coaching world-class athletes to train cancer patients and survivors, helping them live longer and healthier lives. Cathy Huffman was never an exercise person, and she was never a support group person, either. So, when she joined an \u201cexercise support group\u201d after finishing treatment for ovarian cancer in 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