YUMA, Arizona (KYMA, KECY) – When two families come together as one, it brings challenges. It was no different for the Reese family in Yuma, although they harmonized well from the start.
Her challenge was different from most of the others, in part because of childhood cancer.
Eric and Christine Reese have always been friends and have a similar interest in a healthy lifestyle. One who brought them together at Christine’s own gym where she worked out.
A time later, Eric became a coach himself and trained Christine. A bond they created and then shared with each of their children. Both with three children.
“Before we started dating, our kids trained with us and we literally called ourselves a ‘fitness family,’” said Christine Reese. “We were lucky that all of our children knew each other and were fixtures in each other’s lives. That made it easier.”
Meanwhile, Christine’s youngest son Bruce was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in September 2015. There was also a rare chromosomal abnormality called the Philadelphia Positive Chromosome.
“I don’t think I can put it into words. It’s scary,” said Christine. “I think Eric can say that my worries as a mother would be different if that had never happened. I will always wake up and go to his room to watch him breathe and see if he’s okay.”
It was a struggle Christine and Bruce had to endure along with constant travel from Yuma to Phoenix. Without treatment in Yuma, Christine had to drive to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital three times a week for an extended period of time.
Constant travel and time out of the gym resulted in a huge decrease in Christine’s fitness, which ultimately led to major weight gain and depression while trying to fight for her sick child.
“When you are a mother and you have a sick baby, you go into survival mode,” said Christine. “In this situation you drive back and forth, you live in the hospital and I put on a lot of weight. I called myself a fat trainer. Did I know what to do? Yes, but I couldn’t because my priority was to do,” Me was safe there for my sick child and my other children who didn’t know what was going on. So my fitness took a back seat. “
But it was the family bond that grew stronger when Bruce beat cancer, and it was Eric’s help in getting her back to a healthy life and getting the mountain back in shape.
“Deep down, she knew what she wanted to be and where she wanted to be. Unfortunately, that had to be put on hold because life does that to us sometimes,” said Eric. “It was about reminding her that it was okay to prioritize yourself because she’d spent so long prioritizing everyone else.”
After a long journey back, Eric’s training brought Christine back to her original size and even more. Christine lost 94 pounds total and the fitness family was back in business.
Eventually, the two would be working on opening their own gym, ENC Fitness, which opened a new location in early July. The two of them do what they love together and train the people of Yuma to lead a healthy lifestyle.
And this lifestyle has not fled far from their homeland either. A coexisting relationship between their beliefs and fitness that the whole family shares.
Not only that, Christine’s advances in fitness have her knocking on the door on a life and career changing opportunity – a chance to be on the cover of Muscle & Fitness Hers as Ms. Health & Fitness.
Something she never saw coming, but Eric made her believe it was possible.
“I believed in her and I told her she could,” said Eric. “My happiness manifests itself in her when she is successful, so it is easy to support her efforts, and I love it when she sees that she can do great things.”
After several voting rounds, Christine won first place in each round and thus advanced to the next round. Now she is competing in the quarter-finals for a chance to be on the cover and win a grand prize of $ 20,000.
This is just one of the building blocks of the Reese family lifestyle and fitness bond that they all share. Something that corresponds to your own family motto.
“Faith, Fitness and Family. That’s how we run. We grow from that and we need that, ”said Christine. “We are very faith-based. We are fitness-oriented. And the family drives everything.”
“Health is a way of life for all of us in the family,” said Eric. “Being in shape was our unspoken lifestyle, so to speak, and I think it’s woven into our family structure.
Now the Reese are looking forward to returning to a normal life. Someone who hasn’t been here in a very long time.
With Bruce in the final stages of his treatment, Eric and Christine say he can be almost a normal kid with normal problems and it is something that has fallen off the family’s shoulders in the burden of his treatment before.
The voting for Christine as Ms. Health & Fitness ends on Thursday at 6 p.m. You can vote for them at https://mshealthandfitness.com/2021/christine-6?fbclid=IwAR3Lpg6UNQ27J0gSc9yQ7s5g3jIQ-rJ759_xk1l1UtbZkEykw7g0LZA2i9o to be on the national cover.
