In all the chaos, running brought peace for Michael Sickler, a two-time cancer survivor who lost his parents to the disease.
He put on some heavy metal and listened to his favorite songs over and over while training at Neptune Beach, first stopping to admire the sunrise.
At the start of the year, Sickler was too ill to run.
Now, on Saturday, Sickler will test himself in Saturday’s Wild Florida 50K.
Sickler envisions the finish line and thinks about how much his legs will hurt at the end.
“I love it. I can’t wait,” said the 31-year-old Jacksonville resident who works as a Trulieve project manager for the dispensary.
Sickler, who grew up in Tallahassee, was heading into his senior year of high school when the wrestler and soccer player underwent a routine annual physical. The blood test was off, a red flag that something was wrong. His white blood cell count came back 10 times normal.
“It was more of a surreal experience,” Sickler said as he was getting ready to navigate college and not expecting to deal with cancer as an athletic young man. “The first question I asked the doctor was, ‘Am I going to die? … That was the only question I asked, too. He was like, ‘No, of course not. You’re going to be fine.’”
The cancer had been caught early, so Sickler didn’t need formal chemotherapy or radiation. He took eight pills a day that “killed cells indiscriminately,” ravaging his body for a few months. He threw up 10 to 20 times a day.
“I got really good at driving my stick shift Jeep and throwing up at the same time,” Sickler said.
He went into remission. The cancer seemed behind him.
Through it all, Sickler stayed upbeat. He went to musical festivals and told himself YOLO. You Only Live Once.
But in the cruelty of life, cancer ran in his family — although it wasn’t genetic, each person’s circumstances were unconnected.
Sickler’s father, a beloved public school teacher, died in 2014 of what turned out to be pancreatic cancer. Sicker’s mother, a stay-at-home mom, died in 2021 of kidney cancer.
Sickler found his peace in running.
“You can drown out the chaos that is the world around you,” he said.
He had picked up running in his early 20s. He hated lifting weights and he was skinny, so it came naturally to him. He liked running best in the quiet of the woods, away from any concrete.
And Sickler liked testing his mental boundaries. How far could he push himself? Another major challenge was coming.
Sickler got sick after a fishing trip in 2024 and landed in urgent care with a fever that wouldn’t break. He was fighting for his life and was flown to the Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he spent 30 days in the hospital.
The cancer was back.
He underwent chemotherapy and had a bone marrow transplant in October 2024.
He spent months going through intensive entreatment and immunocompromised, isolating from others. For four months, he had a chest catheter. Running was undoubtedly out of the question. Taking a shower alone was a physical feat.
“I had to basically put Saran Wrap over my body to take a shower. It wasn’t fun,” Sickler said.
Finally, doctors told him the cancer was undetectable in February.
“I basically just watched football for 12 hours a day. That’s not really my MO. I’m a pretty active person,” Sickler said. “The moment they ripped out that chest catheter out of my chest, I pretty much immediately tried to get out there and start going at it.”
He started slowly. Walking. Then jogging. Then he kept going.
Since February, he has run 1,000 miles, leading up to Saturday’s race.
He counts his blessings.
“I can’t articulate how thankful and appreciative and blessed I feel,” Sickler said.
The positivity and the drive set him apart, his supporters say.
“Whether in his professional career here at Trulieve or his personal life, Michael doesn’t recognize the meaning of the word quit,” said Kyle Landrum, Trulieve’s Chief Production Officer. “He serves as a tremendous example of what persistence looks like when faced with challenges. He just inspires people to be better and push through any obstacles.”