P.E.I. cancer survivor’s ‘unbelievable’ 120-km triathlon captured in new documentary [Video]

A new documentary is about to premiere that chronicles a P.E.I. woman’s journey to run, cycle and swim from the New Brunswick hospital where she’d received a devastating diagnosis of a rare cancer back to her home in P.E.I. 

Michelle Hughes was told three years ago she would likely die within three to five years from an ultra-rare sarcoma cancer, Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE). 

Instead, on the three-year anniversary of that diagnosis, she undertook a 120-kilometre triathlon taking her from Moncton Hospital to P.E.I., and a friend created a documentary about it, called The Journey Home. 

“I feel so empowered by doing what I did,” Hughes told CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin. “It was unbelievable.” 

All the more unbelievable because Hughes did not know how to swim or cycle, and had begun running only since her diagnosis. 

‘Momma can do things’

She says the mental challenge was actually bigger than the physical. 

On the third anniversary …