A LIFE CHANGED

There was one time -- only one -- when Philip Shano let the frustration come through. Shano, a Jesuit priest, was still in Toronto, recovering from surgery that had taken much of his mobility and his hearing. He was outside one day, moving slowly down a path with his walker when it happened.

"I pushed the walker away and yelled, 'Why me, God, why me?' " Shano said. "The walker fell and I fell. I eventually got up after some trying. What I thoroughly realized at that point is that God only allows things to happen if he wants to use it. It was a sense of 'My life is not over, but it's changed.' "

And so on Sunday, Shano, 51, once told by his surgeon he would never run again, will run in his second consecutive Twin Cities Marathon.

Since 2005, Shano has been in St. Paul at the Jesuit Novitiate on Summit Avenue, where he is in charge of helping novices -- men taking their first steps towards Jesuit priesthood. Back in 2004, when he was in Toronto in more of an administrative role, he started feeling the symptoms: dizziness, headaches, the occasional loss of balance.

At first Shano, who had grown up in Newfoundland before moving to Toronto to become a priest at age 21, chalked it up to a lack of sleep or an overloaded schedule. When he finally went to the doctor, he was diagnosed with an Acoustic Neuroma, a non-cancerous growth near the brain that had to be surgically removed.

He had the surgery in late 2004, but it took a toll. He lost most of his hearing and a nerve on the side of his face was damaged. His life had been spared, but changed. His doctor suggested he would, with work, walk again. But run? When Shano asked that question the doctor laughed. No, he said.

"In retrospect, he knew I'm stubborn," said Shano, who had been a recreational runner before the surgery. "He knew I would turn around and go out and try my best to start running. So I eventually stopped using the walker and started walking on my own. Then I used a treadmill. Then I started moving better and eventually ..."

He was transferred to St. Paul in 2005. The Novitiate is right on the marathon course and that fall he and a novice were watching the race when the young man suggested Shano try it the following year.

"For a second it was, 'Well, look at me,' " Shano said.

Then he took a second look. Already the surgery and his recovery had given Shano another view of his own faith and his personal priorities. During his recovery he had been inspired by Lance Armstrong's story of recovery from cancer. Why couldn't Shano be an inspiration as well?

"As one friend had told me, my life had been changed, not ruined," Shano said. "I took that to heart. I thought, 'Well, I need to keep challenging myself', so when that young man suggested I run the marathon, I thought, why not? ... I can show that there is hope. As I always say, if I can do it, anybody can."

And so he will run. His recovery has been amazing, but there is still struggle. There is a slight imbalance when he runs -- "I tend to always run lopsided," he said -- but he continues to work.

And push himself. This summer he took a trip to Colorado with friends and colleagues and climbed four mountain peaks. He has become a walking, climbing running example to anyone who knows him.

"I think when a young person who I work with sees I'm not giving up, I think they are less prone to use excuses like 'I'm tired,' " he said. "I'm amazed at how many people have said they're inspired by things like the marathon."

Kent Youngblood • kyoungblood@startribune.com