FORT BELVOIR, Va. (June 7, 2015) -- "It's cancer."
Two words people hope to never hear.
And as Sgt. Kawaiola Nahale, an Army Reserve budget analyst, with the 311th Signal Company on Fort Shafter, Hawaii, faced the diagnosis and associated complications, it was a non-medical complication, which was among the hardest.
"I wasn't allowed to be in the water," said Nahale of her initial recovery. "With all my surgeries, my doctors didn't want me getting an infection, because [the surgery sites] are so close to vital organs."
Not being able to get in the water may seem like an unusual concern for someone with a cancer diagnosis, but for Nahale, a Honolulu native, the water is home.
Her father first took her to the water when she was just a month old - a common custom for Hawaiian families. At age 4, her parents took her to swim lessons, and by the time she was 6, she was swimming competitively.
In her civilian capacity, she serves as a lifeguard and competes on a canoe paddling team. And at the end of June, she will compete in swimming - and cycling - as an Army athlete in the 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games.
"The water is my healing place. After all my surgeries and restrictions, being in the water was my place of peace," she said.
It was three surgeries total, which included a right mastectomy and a left lumpectomy, to fight the breast cancer she was diagnosed with in April 2013.
"April 2013 was pretty quick; it moved along very, very fast. I was in and out of the hospital every day for the first two weeks," Nahale said.
By the end of the month, she had her first surgery. That May, she joined the Warrior Transition Battalion, or WTB, at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, where she stayed for a year and half during treatment and recovery.
Being a part of the WTB made a huge impact on her recovery, Nahale said.
"Going from not knowing to knowing exactly what was wrong with me, they all came together," said Nahale of her doctors, case manager, squad leader, Family readiness and other support staff. "My support system was very strong at that time."
Nahale is now cancer-free. She is about three years away from the five-year mark from diagnosis and said the thought of remission is exciting.
"That will be like a birthday celebration - that will be a big day," Nahale said.
For now, she is focused on the 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games.
"Representing Team Army is important to me because I would have never known about this program or this group of people had it not been for my illness," Nahale said. "And being a part of Team Army allows me to say, 'You know what? The Army was there, and they stepped up, and they helped me through my treatment, my recovery and my healing, and they're helping other Service members, also.'"
These are her second games. Her first games were in 2014, just a few short months after she received the all-clear to get back in the water.
"Being in the water is where I'm supposed to be," Nahale said.
On top of the mind-body healing it provides, she also used swimming as a way to recover from her surgeries.
"Being in the water, there's no impact. So trying to retrain my pectoral muscles, especially for push-ups, sit-ups and just to pass the [Army Physical Fitness Test], that helped a lot because the pain was a little less than actual push-ups, Nahale said. "I could build up slowly and not further injure my muscles than just doing push-ups right away."
It is that experience using swimming as a recovery tool that she hopes to share with others during the games.
"My take home from the DOD Warrior Games 2015 is being around the Soldiers and being able to help them in their recovery and healing," Nahale said. "Being an athlete with the Warrior Care and Transition Program, allows me to be around Soldiers…being here I can relate to other Soldiers, and Service members from the other branches, and where we are in our recovery process, what helps us heal, and how we can help others."
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