‘I’m happy to be here’: 25-year-old runs first 5K after doctors remove massive brain tumor less than six months before
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RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Mackenzie Harry, 25, crossed her first 5K finish line at the River City Half Marathon and 5K on Saturday, March 9. Running was something she and her doctors weren't sure she'd be able to do again after she had surgery to remove a massive brain tumor six months earlier.
Mackenzie Harry and her boyfriend Wesley Coward.
“Today for me it wasn’t about the pace or the time," Harry said. "I mean, I’m very happy I did it in under an hour, but it wasn’t about that. It was about just showing up and doing it.”
It was August 25, 2025, that Harry went to the emergency room after suffering from intense migraines and pressure in the back of her head for four weeks.
“I thought it was gonna be something simple like a spinal tap to drain the fluid," she said.
After some scans of her brain, doctors found a nearly six-centimeter-long tumor.
Doctors found this tumor in Mackenzie Harry's brain.
“When I was talking to the surgeons, they weren’t sure if they were going to be able to remove it," Harry said. "They didn’t know if it was going to be fatal.”
Three days later, on August 28, she went into a seven-hour surgery to remove the tumor. Harry said her skull fell apart during the surgery, and she had to have a titanium plate put in its place. After she woke up and began to heal, her perspective on life shifted.
Mackenzie Harry post-surgery.
“I was thinking about all the things that I wish that I could do," she said. "And I was thinking about how I wish that one day I could run a marathon and this is my first baby step towards running a marathon one day.”
After the surgery, Harry spent months recovering. She had to practice walking and make sure her muscles still worked, as well as ensuring her memory was intact.
“I had my follow-up...with my neurosurgeon a month after my surgery and I told him I wanted to run this 5K and he said, ‘Okay, slow down.’”
Mackenzie Harry began training slowly by taking walks.
Eight weeks post-surgery, Harry was cleared to start training in November.
She started with walking a mile a day around her neighborhood and even just moving her neck from side to side. Everything, even the little moments, helped her gain momentum for the River City 5K.
“I’m happy to be here," Harry told 8News. "And I feel like I'll look back on this in a few years whenever I do run a marathon and I'll think like, ‘This was my first like real step towards that goal...' I felt really confident in God knowing that whatever was gonna happen would happen, and I think that’s why- that and the amount of prayers that I got was why that I'm still here today.”
Harry said the tumor is non-cancerous; however, one is slowly growing back. Someday she will have to get surgery again, but she is already signed up for her next 5K in May.
The 2027 River City Half Marathon and 5K is on March 6. Early bird pricing is open through March 16. After that, the price will increase.
More than 3,000 runners from 33 states and eight countries ran the third annual River City Half Marathon and 5K. Over 2,000 participants signed up for the half-marathon and 1,087 registered for the 5K.
Additionally, 75 people ran the two races virtually. The race began and ended at the University of Richmond and was put on by Sports Backers.
According to Sports Backers, Brian Flynn of Ashland won the men’s half-marathon in 1:10:20, and Julia Siegel Breton from Richmond won the women’s in 1:23:24.
