Sarah Bishop is used to pushing herself to her limits.
It’s just part and parcel of 29 years in Police, including being one of the country’s first female AOS operators.
But pushing herself has taken on a whole new meaning after she was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a rare inflammatory disease that’s affected her heart.
Sarcoidosis has left Sarah's heart damaged beyond repair and sporting a pacemaker and defibrillator to keep it going – but it hasn’t taken away her fight.
Not content to simply juggle work, the Rotorua detective has entered the Tongariro Goat Adventure Run this month - a challenging half marathon that traverses the western slopes of Mount Ruapehu - to raise awareness, as well as money, for Sarcoidosis research.
She’s documenting her journey on her Facebook page, Running Rocks & Ridges for Sarcoidosis.
Like many others, Sarah had never heard of sarcoidosis before her diagnosis.
It came like an “unreal” bolt after months of vague symptoms – fatigue, night sweats and tiredness.
“At one point they checked my blood pressure and it was up, which was really unusual. They told me it was just hereditary, but it’s always been low. I wasn’t going to just accept that.”
Repeated trips to the doctors left her with no real answers, blood tests shed no light, but when she noticed changes in her heart rate she pushed harder for a reason. Her resting heart rate was sitting at about 43 – something people put down to “being so fit”, but she wasn’t having it.
A keen runner, one of the hills she’d often run up on the family farm had become a mission - she just couldn’t push through. At one point, she thought her sports watch was broken as it was reading such a low heart rate during exercise.
Eventually, she asked her partner to physically check her pulse after running to the top. Despite being breathless and physically exhausted, it was just 68.
At this point, Sarah wondered whether it was all in her head and tried to “push through”.
“Eventually, they did an ECG and the doctor said, ‘that’s not what I expected’.”
Sarah was sent straight to hospital. A month’s stay in Waikato Hospital followed along with a myriad of tests and the eventual diagnosis. During that time, her heart would stop for up seven seconds at a time.
Sarah had surgery to instal a pacemaker and defibrillator and is on a range of medication to keep the condition from spreading to other organs.
The sarcoidosis was also on lymph nodes and her oesophagus, which enabled medical specialists to carry out biopsies on the granuloma that confirmed the sarcoidosis diagnosis.
More than 18 months on, Sarah admits the whole experience has felt unreal at times, as if she’s in a parallel universe.
“Occasionally, I’ve had to put my hand on my pacemaker just to remind me it’s real.”
She’s also aware that the condition is unique for each of those diagnosed, from the organs affected through to the amount of damage.
For that reason, she’s reluctant to be singled out as an inspiration, but hopes that her story helps counter some of the doom and gloom and says if it resonates with someone then it is worth it.
“This is my story at this point in time.”
With cardiologist approval, Sarah says setting an active goal that gets her out there is beneficial – both physically and mentally.
“In my mind looking after myself is making myself get out there and do the exercise so I can stay as strong as possible. I’m really lucky at the moment that I’m able to continue to do all the stuff that I love.”
Running the hills is particularly meaningful for Sarah.
“In hospital I had a vision of this hill, and I kept visualising running up it. If I can do what I love and spread awareness and raise some money at the same time, then that’s great.”
Sarah battles fatigue due to both the condition and the medication she’s on to stop its spread, but she prioritises exercise to combat that.
So, Sarah now has her sights set on The Goat. She’s done it before but is under no illusions that running it after all she’s been through will make for a different race.
“If I can finish the event with a smile on my face, I’ll be happy.”
