December 2024 Athlete of the Month
By Del Moon, NSGA Storyteller
Sherry Kemp, 68
Columbus, Ohio
In 2019 at age 63, Sherry Kemp was struggling with her health. She needed a walker and carried an oxygen bottle due to a rare, incurable condition. Today, her disease is in check, and she’s planning to compete in her third National Senior Games next summer in Des Moines.
What brought this turnabout? A 103-year-old woman.
The epiphany came as Sherry and her mother, Susie, also using a walker, went to the 2019 Games in Albuquerque to cheer on her sister Charlene Kemp-Queener competing in the javelin and shot put. “We watched the track races and saw Julia Hawkins run the 100-meter race,” she recalls. “When we heard she was 103 and that she broke a world record, I was like, are you kidding me? I looked at my mother and said, ‘We got to find something that we can do. We need to get off our walkers.’ And that kind of began our journey to starting to get healthier!”
At that moment, Sherry and Susie committed to compete in the next National Senior Games. First, Sherry had to manage her medical condition, a chronic lung disease that had left her with 24% lung capacity.
“It’s called Sarcoidosis, and its symbol is like a snowflake because nobody has the same type of symptoms, and that makes it hard to diagnose,” she explains. “I’ve had it since 1995, and they’ve never found a treatment or a cure for it. I was not exercising much and giving in to my condition.”
Kemp family and friends at the 2019 National Senior Games presented by Humana. Front row (left to right): Sherry Kemp, Susie Kemp. Back row (left to right): Charlene Kemp-Queener, Regina King, Pamela Chapman. Photo courtesy Sherry Kemp.
Sherry’s flare-ups receded as she began exercising more. She and her mom, a Korean War veteran who has battled stomach cancer and COVID-19, teamed up to keep them motivated. Both improved, and Sherry ditched her walker and oxygen in 2021.
At the next National Senior Games in Fort Lauderdale, the two women were no longer simply spectators and cheerleaders for Charlene. Both competed in Cornhole and Sherry also took on the 1500-meter Power Walk. They returned in 2023 playing Cornhole, and Sherry added Shuffleboard.
“Mom is 89 now, and she still is doing her fitness with me,” Sherry says. “People ask how did I do it, and I say it’s as simple as setting a goal and pursuing it. You know, there’s a lot of barriers that want to pop up. But, you have to power through them and finish.”
A Track Family
That perspective was ingrained in Sherry early. She and her five siblings ran track and competed on a traveling team from when Sherry was 14 until she went to college. “We traveled all over the country. We were one of those teams you saw on TV at the indoor winter games or the outdoor track and field championships. We had some elite runners – Madeline Manning Jackson did the 800-meter race in the Olympics, and she was a member of our team. We were about our business.”
Fitness and regular exercise faded away after that. “I had it, but then life happened, you know? College, Air Force service, marriages, babies. Then this disease,” she notes. “It was my sister Charlene who really got us to Senior Games. She and her twin sister were elite athletes. She had gotten away from track for many years and started training to compete again. So we went to Albuquerque to support her, and now we’re all in it!”
Left to right: Charlene Kemp-Queener, Susie Kemp and Sherry Kemp pose together at the 2022 National Senior Games presented by Humana. Photo courtesy Sherry Kemp.
The Kemps also like to help out. “Whenever we’ve gone to The Games, like Pittsburgh two years ago, we volunteered to work. We believe in giving back,” she says. “The Pan American Games were in Cleveland in June and we volunteered. I got my granddaughter involved too. We met athletes from around the world.”
Sherry is social and praised the atmosphere surrounding the National Senior Games. “What had the biggest impact on me was meeting all the people from around the country, and everybody was pleasant. They were happy and smiling, and it’s just so nice to reunite with the people you’ve met before. It’s like a safe bubble, and it’s so refreshing.”
The reborn athlete now advocates for active aging. “When I talk to the members of my Sarcoidosis support group, I talk to them about trying to get into a place of more healthiness and to find what your exercise might be,” she explains. “I set my goal to compete, but for other people, it could be to just get up and do an activity 15 minutes a day. If you need to do 30 a day, break it up.”
Susie and Sherry look forward to the 2025 National Senior Games presented by Humana in Des Moines. Charlene has had shoulder and knee injuries but is hopeful to compete again. If not, the other Kemps will represent the family.
“I’m pretty proud of myself. I’ve worked hard,” Sherry adds.
