Toledo swimmer Cora Walrond overcomes cancer to fulfill dream
TOLEDO, Ohio (BVM) — University of Toledo freshman Cora Walrond isn’t your typical college athlete. The 19-year-old has already survived both cancer and heart surgery. But this hasn’t kept her down, and she is thriving as a Division I swimmer for the Rockets.
While in middle school, at the age of 12, Walrond began experiencing extreme fatigue, fevers, night sweats, and outbreaks of hives. She went to doctor after doctor, but no one could diagnose her. She was told she had everything from a virus to allergies. It wasn’t until she got a lymphadenectomy and went to an oncologist that she finally got an answer. It wasn’t an answer anyone wanted. The tests confirmed lymphoma. Physicians sent her to the Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health in Indianapolis. There Walrond was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Walrond endured 15 weeks of chemotherapy treatments. This consisted of five cycles totaling 21 days of treatment each time. The dose of chemotherapy increased with every cycle and the Fort Wayne, Indiana native had to travel to Indianapolis for some of the treatments. After the first two rounds of chemotherapy, her scans showed the cancer was gone. However, Walrond needed to complete every one of the treatments to ensure all of the cancer was eradicated.
“It was a miracle to see just because of how much cancer was in my body,” Walrond said. “It was completely unheard of.”
The regimen though didn’t come without consequences.
“I had severe neuropathy in my hands and feet,” Walrond said. “It was hard to walk and even hold a pencil. I had to do therapy including breathing treatments to get my lungs healthy.”
Even with the serious side effects, Walrond never stopped swimming.
“Swimming helped,” Walrond said. “The water was easier than anything else for me. I never stopped swimming throughout the entire process.”
Family, teachers, and swim friends all rallied to support Walrond. At the time she was a member of the SWAC (now known as SCA) club team. While teachers came to her house to give her lessons so she wouldn’t fall behind academically, the swim team held fundraisers on her behalf including a head-shaving auction. Walrond now helps coach the club team during the summer.
Although numerous schools pursued Walrond, she chose Toledo because of the family atmosphere that mimicked the club team she had been with since age 6.
“I had such a close relationship with both my club and high school teammates and knew it would be hard to leave them,” Walrond said. “I wanted to come to a team that felt like a family and would be supportive no matter what. That is definitely what I walked into. The girls on the Toledo team are amazing.”
As if defeating cancer wasn’t enough, during Walrond’s freshman year of high school she was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). Walrond underwent a six-hour procedure to correct the irregular heartbeat. That didn’t keep her down either.
“The cancer and SVT weren’t related. I was just a lucky winner,” Walrond joked. “I was back in the water the next week.”
Determined, Walrond excelled in the water swimming both the breaststroke and the individual medley (IM). Twice she broke Homestead High’s record in the 200 medley relay. She was integral in bringing the school three straight sectional titles (2018-2020).
Walrond isn’t just an outstanding swimmer. She excels in the classroom as well. She graduated from Homestead High School cum laude and consistently achieved honor roll. In her first semester at Toledo, she made Dean’s list. The three-time former All-American is majoring in recreational therapy with a focus on pre-occupational therapy.
“I want to be a pediatric occupational therapist just so I can help kids who went through the same thing I did,” Walrond said.
Walrond said her favorite doctors were the ones who had some inspiration pushing them or went into their line of work for personal reasons. Those were the doctors who treated her like a person, not just a patient, always asking about her school work and swim accomplishments.
“They cared about my life outside of the cancer,” Walrond said. “I want to be that for my patients.”
Beating both cancer and a heart ailment has taught Walrond she can do anything she puts her heart and soul into.
“I definitely want to graduate on the Dean’s list every semester and I want to have my resume include volunteer time at hospitals and at therapy offices just to help kids especially,” Walrond said.
It is important to Walrond that she uses her experiences overcoming hardships to help others.
“I want to get my story out to make kids aware,” Walrond said, “that even if something like this happens to them, you can come back from it.”
