{"id":209328,"date":"2025-01-15T16:33:07","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T02:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=209328"},"modified":"2025-01-15T16:33:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T02:33:07","slug":"true-ironman-alumnus-jonathan-pascual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/01\/15\/true-ironman-alumnus-jonathan-pascual\/","title":{"rendered":"True Ironman: <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa alumnus Jonathan Pascual races against terminal cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_27508\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xwVKg6F3s9k?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Alumni Hali&#039;a Aloha: Jonathan Pascual (BS &#039;98, Â鶹´«Ã½M\u0101noa)\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>Battling terminal stage-four cancer, University of Hawai\u02bbi at M\u0101noa alumnus Jonathan Pascual was so much more than an Ironman when he finished the 2024 Ironman World Championship in Kona.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_209329\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-209329\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/system-alum-pascual-j-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Jon Pascual celebrating\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-209329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/system-alum-pascual-j-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/system-alum-pascual-j-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/system-alum-pascual-j.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-209329\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pascual crossing the finish line of the Ironman World Championship (Kona)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A 1998 graduate of the School of Nursing, Pascual was diagnosed with mediastinal paraganglioma, a rare form of cancer, in 2022. The cancer spread to his lungs and bones, yet he completed the 2.4-mile open-water swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run in October 2024.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;All of us in our lifetime will deal with suffering, losses, disabilities, injuries. My point of view is that these are invitations to show true strength and courage,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Pascual first attended Leeward Community College and <span aria-label=\"Kapiolani\">Kapi&#699;olani<\/span> Community College for prerequisite courses. He then forged strong bonds during his time at the <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa School of Nursing.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_209330\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-209330\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/system-alum-pascual-j-2-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Jonathan Pascual pointing to his name on the Ironman 2024 sign\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-209330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/system-alum-pascual-j-2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/system-alum-pascual-j-2-130x130.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/system-alum-pascual-j-2.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-209330\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Before the Ironman World Championship in Kona<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;Amazingly, after all these years, I am still in contact with a select number of college friends and our professor, Connie Gazmen,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I would take her classes again. For me, that has always been one of the best learning times that I had at <abbr>UH<\/abbr>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He credits <abbr>UH<\/abbr> for the longevity of his friendships.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It all started in <abbr>UH<\/abbr>, and that started this community that we\u2019ve had. <abbr>UH<\/abbr> is the one place that bound us together.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He also challenges the notion that stage 4 cancer is a death sentence.<\/p>\n<p>Pascual said, &ldquo;It is a place where you can find what would be important in your life.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uhalumni.org\/news\/profiles\">Learn more about other outstanding <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Alumni<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A School of Nursing grad shows incredible courage in the face of stage 4 cancer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[90,679,63,65,189,167,9,56],"class_list":["post-209328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-recognition","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-nursing","tag-school-of-nursing-and-dental-hygiene","tag-uh-manoa","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209328"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209332,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209328\/revisions\/209332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}