Barbara was raised on a farm in Puahue, Waikato, New Zealand. She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 1997. In 2005, she discovered Ironman and set her goal to enter the competitions. In 2007, Barbara was diagnosed with bone cancer. As of 2012, she is cancer-free and sharing her inspirational story. When Barbara learned she had a life-threatening tumor, she, as many do, asked: What had I done to cause this? What could I have changed? Her self-doubt went beyond the "why me" to "what have I done to deserve this?" Before she began the training required for Ironman, she did everything right. She went a nutritionist and made sure her diet was right, went to a physiotherapist, hired a professional coach and consulted her physician. After much soul-searching, she looked beyond her fear and uncertainty and was able to begin letting go of guilt and self-doubt. She realized she would never know how that horrid intruder breached her defenses and that her best hope for recovery was to rely on her ability to focus on learning what would help her body heal. She needed to design a plan of action and knew from Ironman training she could and would do just that.