Letter from Jane Kreischer

Reader Shares Fitness Center Personal Story

I have written once before to plead for the continuation of our lifeline in this community. Today, I would like to illustrate this great need using a very personal story I have not told before.

I joined FoxCare Fitness in 2013, like many others, seeking health and wellness. I found the perfect place to start, as it was always designed to accommodate any fitness level, any age, and any need was met by kind and caring professionals. How comfortable have we all felt there; this quiet, clean, safe environment with support of staff and so many options?

Things changed in an instant in 2019, when the fateful words “you have cancer” felt like they were being delivered muffled through cotton. In that instant, having seen my whole life pass before my eyes, I decided to bravely meet it and my life head-on. FoxCare Fitness then truly became my lifeline. I continued to take the cardio and aerobic classes, knowing they would provide the strength I needed, both mentally and physically. Still perspiring, I would run down the entire length of the building; FoxCare on one end, Oncology on the other with 15 minutes between exercise and radiation. Having FoxCare as my guide and my saving grace made my brain believe it was just another day—every day for six weeks. I could never repay them for that gift.

To understand the need for such a facility, you have only to read my story and so many other similar stories centered around struggle. Where else is there such a building where health and wellness mesh so perfectly with medical care? Where can you go in rural America where mentally, physically, and emotionally you know that every part of you is being cared for? Where shall we go from here?

I share this very personal story to add to the numerous ones you’ve already received. People who have been cared for, looked after in body and mind, and made to feel they matter. By the grace of FoxCare Fitness go many of us. Please let it continue so that we may seek wellness as we travel the rocky road of life.

Jane Kreischer
Oneonta