Jana Ward, a trail runner, engineer, program manager, wife, and mother of two, knows what it means to face a mountain, both literally and figuratively. Before her diagnosis, Jana ran 5 miles every day with her girlfriends in the Salt Lake AM Runners, a close-knit community affectionately known as SLAM. Running wasn’t just exercise, it was connection, discipline, and joy.
In January 2023, while on vacation in Hawaii, Jana felt what she thought was a pinched nerve in her back. After an ER visit where she learned she had multiple myeloma, spinal lesions, and a tumor pressing on her spine, she was life-flighted to a trauma center on Oahu to surgically remove the tumor.
Once back in Utah, while in the hospital, her tumor returned, requiring another extensive surgery to fuse her T2–T9 vertebrae. She spent months moving back and forth from Huntsman Cancer Institute to Craig H. Neilsen Rehabilitation Hospital, to receive radiation, chemotherapy, stem cell transplants, and physical rehabilitation.
During her time at Neilsen Rehabilitation Hospital, Jana faced fatigue, pain, and moments of low motivation but it was never boring! Every day she had multiple sessions with physical therapists and occupational therapists to learn how to navigate her world as a disabled individual.
Initially, she was paralyzed from her chest down to her toes with very little sensation or movement.
When she left Neilsen Rehabilitation Hospital, she took with her a toolbox of techniques and equipment along with the confidence that comes from knowledge and practice. Lots of practice!
By October 2023, Jana began outpatient therapy at University of Utah Sugar House Health Center where she worked with physical therapist, Jackie O’Neill, to regain her ability to walk and strengthen her muscles. For 21 months, Jackie used tested and proven methods to continually challenge Jana to build on progress and to keep the learning curve aimed high. Jana learned to trust Jackie and to lean into fear when Jackie was at the helm. Jana welcomed the hard work and Jackie never failed to push her to do what she knew Jana was capable of. Jana saw steady, small, incremental improvements. Jackie encouraged Jana to try new things and to work hard and often while practicing at home. Jana joked that she had Jackie tapes in her head to admonish her whenever she deviated from proper technique.
Over countless hours of practice and sweat, Jana eventually learned to walk solo with arm crutches and recently achieved her goal of walking one mile by the end of September 2025. The mile took Jana 100 minutes, about the same amount of time she needed to run a half marathon three years earlier. During this time, she also learned to drive again with hand controls, further reclaiming her independence.
"Every night I go to bed thinking about walking again, I don't think about the cancer."
The introduction to TRAILS marked another milestone in her recovery. In the summer of 2024, Jana kayaked for the first time since her surgeries, a moment that made her feel ablebodied again. She also embraced mountain biking, sailing, snow skiing, water skiing, swimming, and golfing with adaptive equipment allowing her to safely strengthen her legs and enjoy the outdoors. Her own recumbent tricycle now carries her on 17-mile rides, letting her soak up the sun while building strength and serotonin.
Through it all, Jana marvels at the human body’s resilience and the power of mindset. “Every night I go to bed thinking about walking again,” she says. “I don’t think about the cancer. It’s like climbing a mountain, a different mountain, but just as rewarding.” TRAILS ignited a part of her that allowed her to reconnect with herself, her passions, and the physical joys she had once taken for granted.
Jana credits her recovery to an incredible support system: her husband Curtis, children, friends, family, therapists and healers. “Everyone has my back” she says with an ironic smile. Inspired by this support, Jana and her sister-in-law Leslie Corbett worked with Josh Tessier, Director of Advancement for the Craig H. Neilsen Rehabilitation Hospital, to create the Jana Ward Breakthroughs in Adaptive Engineering Endowment. This fund combines her mechanical engineering and program management background with her passion for adaptive sports and giving back to the community which has given her so much. The endowment supports engineering capstone projects, giving students hands-on experience while benefiting patients with adaptive equipment, many projects coming full circle from those Jana used in TRAILS.
“The endowment is a symbiotic relationship,” she explains. “It’s wonderful for the students to see their projects out in the world and for patients and TRAILS participants to benefit.” The journey doesn’t end and Jana will continue to work to see what’s possible, believing that, while the future makes no promises, growth yet remains unclaimed.