Going Coast to Coast
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MCCLURE -- Sue Renninger's goal was to visit all 50 states during her lifetime. Diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer in 2017, the McClure woman wasn't about to let that slow her down.
To the contrary, she's been living her life to the fullest.
"I started traveling to some of the states many years ago when my husband and I decided to take our kids every year on a family vacation somewhere," Renninger explained. "By the time they graduated, we had taken them to Maryland, New York, Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, California, Virginia, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia. Some of those destinations, we let them choose."
Whew! That's 13 of 50 states. But Renninger kept pecking away at the list; cancer hasn't stopped her from putting the pedal to the metal just yet. A delayed flight or a bus stuck in traffic is about all that will slow her down. Those are a far cry from the radiation treatment and other setbacks she's endured from the cancer.
"It's become almost a challenge and goal for more than just myself as everyone has helped me to keep checking off the list of states," she said.
One last voyage
Renninger left last Thursday on a trip to complete the final two states - North Dakota and Idaho. Her daughter Heather (Renninger) Pully and son, Eric, flew out of Baltimore with her. The siblings bought their mom tickets as a Christmas gift this past year.
"To live six years with Stage IV lung cancer is an absolute miracle in and of itself," Pully said. "But to do it the way she's done it, with perseverance, fight and stamina, is a whole new level of amazing.
"It's inspiring to others to see such a fantastic goal accomplished even when the odds are stacked against you," she added.
Renninger has a map of the 50 states and has been marking them off one by one as her journey progresses.
"There was no rhyme or reason," Renninger said of her travel schedule around the country. "I did a lot of research on the various bus tours that were available and just found ones that were available and just found ones that I would like to do or haven't done before.
"I was able to see quite a few states at a time when I did a bus tour," she added.
Lighthouses catch her eye
Lighthouses and bigger national parks or monuments also peaked her interest. "I would find specific lighthouses that I wanted to see and then I would map out a trip from there," Renninger said. "I really enjoy all the different types of lighthouses, but my favorite one was called Split Rock in Minnesota."
National parks, like Acadia National Park in Maine and the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, were too enticing to pass up as were must-see attractions like the Space Needle in Seattle and the Arch in St. Louis, both well-known landmarks.
In Utah, Renninger "absolutely loved Bryce Canyon, even more than the Grand Canyon," she said.
They ranked right up there with "seeing the volcanoes and the sunsets on the island" of Hawaii," Renninger added.
Even the pandemic didn't slow her down. "Because of my health, I had to be careful not to get sick, so we did more of our own traveling in our car at that time. As soon as bus tours started back up, though, I was ready to get going."
COVID cancellations
The hardest part of traveling with COVID was the sudden cancellation of trips. "My stepdaughter and I had been planning for a year to go to Alaska when COVID hit," Renninger said. "Our entire trip was canceled. We were supposed to do a two-week trip, half by water and half by land. The following year we intended to go, but because the ports in Canada were still closed to the US, we could only complete the land tour because I didn't want to wait another year."
Updating her map is almost as exhilarating as experiencing the sights that each state has to offer.
"I always loved being able to mark off a bunch and when I realized how many I had, I just thought to myself, 'I want to do them all,'" Renninger said. "And once I mentioned maybe going to all 50 states, my family was very supportive in pushing me to do it.
"My kids got me a Christmas gift last year that was a large framed map of the US, and I could print my own pictures that I had taken in each state and print them off in the shape of the actual state," she added. "Then you put the picture in the map, like a puzzle. Once I started filling in those pictures, I was really motivated to fill in the puzzle completely."
The travels have varied in length: some were long weekends; others were a week; and some two. Renninger did a lot of trips in the spring and fall. "I would say about 25 percent of the states, particularly the ones far away, were all visited in the last two years."
Doctors have also been accommodating, knowing the importance of the trips to her morale and rearranging treatments around her travel scheduling.
"There were times we had to move a treatment back by a week or two, but they always made it work for me," Renninger said. "There was only one trip to Florida – I'd already been there – that I had to cancel because I needed urgent brain radiation. Otherwise, the doctors feel that my traveling is just as good for me as the medicine."
Trips over treatments
The treatments have taken quite a toll on Renninger physically. "She has not once allowed it to stop her from living her life," Pully said. "She may have faltered. She may have slowed down. Her physical appearance is showing signs of wear, but she continues to push forward."
It's a scheduling nightmare at times, for sure. The week of her last trip, she had two doctors appointments, lab work and two infusions. After traveling to two states over five days, she must come home and have brain radiation again within a few days. "It's totally worth it," Renninger said.
Over the last six years, her list of treatment rivals the length of her travel itinerary. She's endured surgery to remove part of her lung, three rounds of hard chemotherapy, an oral targeted chemotherapy pill, ablation to her kidney, four rounds of radiation to her abdomen and, most recently, immunotherapy infusions every two weeks, an oral chemo pill every four weeks and another immunotherapy infusion every six weeks plus two rounds of brain radiation. There's also another round of radiation scheduled for the middle of May.
"As her prognosis became more serious, she definitely accepted this as a challenge to accomplish her goals and not allow anything to hinder her," Pully said. "I was skeptical myself, but I'm happy to say she is proving me wrong.
"In the past year, I've never seen my mom so ill and run down," she added. "Despite it being the time of her life where she felt the least capable and the least energetic, she managed to visit 11 states since February 2022."
Map is complete
After flying home on Monday, she was able to mark off her final and 50th state.
"And then my next stop will be the Canadian Rockies," Renninger said triumphantly. "You hear so much about it. I think the mountains look pretty and you can do a train tour of it. I haven't done a train tour, so it would be another first."