Kerryn McCann ( Hindmarsh, 2 May 1967 – 7 December 2008) was an Australian athlete. She was best known for winning the marathon at the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games. Personal life McCann was born Kerryn Hindmarsh in Bulli, New South Wales, in 1967. In 1991 she married Greg McCann, a surfer who represented Australia twice in international competition, and was Australian champion in 1983. Their first son Benton, was born in 1997; daughter Josie was born in 2003. In August 2007 it was announced that McCann, who was expecting her third child at the time, was being treated for breast cancer. She had surgery to remove the lump and was later induced, giving birth to son Cooper on 5 September 2007 (6 weeks premature). She then began a 20-week course of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Cooper spent several weeks in a neonatal ward, undergoing steroid treatment, to aid the growth of his lungs. "It was really hard seeing him with the tubes and drip and monitor - this tiny baby," McCann said, two months after his birth. However, by May 2008 the cancer had spread to her liver. McCann died at her home on 7 December 2008, surrounded by her family. Athletics career McCann had an early interest in athletics, winning the New South Wales primary school cross country championship in 1979. However, McCann gave up competitive athletics until taking it up again near the end of high school, running her first marathon at the age of seventeen. At age 19 she ran the marathon at the Australian Championships, placing 3rd. McCann won her first Australian championship events in 1988, placing first in the one mile race, and first in the marathon, having previously come third in the marathon in 1986. McCann has subsequently won Australian championships in cross country (1992 and 1999), 10,000 metres (in 2002) and again in the marathon in 1993. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, McCann placed tenth in the marathon, and at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States, she finished 28th. McCann took a break from professional competition for the birth of her first son, returning in 1999. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, McCann finished eleventh in the marathon. On running into the packed Sydney Stadium the crowd erupted. Earlier in the year she placed fifth in the London Marathon, in a time of