TOPEKA (KSNT)- Holly Torrez shows strength in many forms. Whether it’s just getting through the day, at the gym or fighting a battle for the second time.

Torrez is preparing for a big competition in May. At the beginning of this year, the Topeka gym owner signed up for a powerlifting contest with one objective on her list.

“I don’t have a goal in mind,” she said. “My only goal is just to finish. I have lost a little bit of strength, but competition…it is my passion. it brings me joy.”

Torrez isn’t losing that strength for no reason. While she signed up for the competition at the beginning of this year, she also found out her cancer was back.

The name Holly Torrez might sound a little familiar. Back in 2019, 27 News featured her after she had first opened her gym Resilience Training. She had quite the story to share.

Not only was she a single mother and new business owner, she just had a tumor removed a short time before that. Once the tumor was gone, she was going in for her regular checkups and everything looked clear. But, she did have something growing on her pituitary gland. Doctors could only keep a watch on it since it didn’t seem to be problematic, until this year.

“The beginning of 2022, went in for scans and that’s when they determined that my pituitary tumor had caused additional cell tissue to grow outside of the pituitary,” she said.

The cancer had spread to another part of her brain. The hard part, this isn’t a common diagnosis which makes getting through it a little tough.

“It’s…not really a pituitary carcinoma because it’s not in my pituitary,” she said. “It’s not really a pineal gland issue, because it’s not exactly in the pineal gland. But I do have the symptoms of both of those type of cancers.”

Instead of giving up, she kept going.

“I did it once, I can do it again,” she said. “There is always another way. We’ll just have to figure out something different this time around too.”

Even though Torrez says somedays, she just can’t be the strength everyone sees her as, she fights on. Getting pinpoint radiation three times a week, and chemo injections twice a week, every other week.

It may be a second-round fight for her, but it’s something she’s getting through with the help of her family, friends and even the people she trains every day.

Torrez wasn’t as open the first time around when she was diagnosed with cancer. She thought talking about it would hurt the people she loved. This time, however, she found out that talking about it actually helped her get through it.

In fact, her clients started a GoFundMe without her knowledge to help with any medical expenses. For more ways to support Torrez, click here.

Torrez’s competition is on May 1 in Kansas City.

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