Sahara Aldridge's father keeps fit with 'Sahara Shape' routine

In May 2006, Shannon Aldridge and his 12-year-old daughter Sahara were watching "Celebrity Fit Club" on television at their home in Cape Girardeau. When Shannon got up and caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror, he didn't like what he saw.

"I thought, 'My God, what happened to me? I'm fat,'" Aldridge said. "And that was it."

He went back to Sahara and told her he was going to begin a diet and start exercising the next day. At the time, he weighed 296 pounds.

"I'm going to lose 50 pounds," he told his daughter.

"I'll help," said Sahara, a sports enthusiast like her father.

Shannon Aldridge's most recent tattoo is a tribute to his daughter Sahara, who died from cancer in November 2007.

Three years later, Aldridge calls the routine that changed his lifestyle "Sahara Shape" in honor of her memory and the fitness she maintained during her life. Sahara would have turned 15 today.

A few months after starting his fitness program, Aldridge was well on his way to his goal and felt better than he had in years. But Sahara was diagnosed with a malignant brain-stem tumor. Doctors at first gave her less than a year to live but then said Sahara would be able to fight her illness more effectively because she was in great physical shape.

Sahara was sent to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for 13 weeks of treatment. While Sahara and her mother Amy were in Texas, Aldridge would drive down on the weekends but mostly stayed behind in Cape Girardeau to work. He continued his diet and exercise plan.

"I still had time to kill during the week, so I started lifting weights and running every day," Aldridge said. He joined Fitness Plus at Saint Francis Medical Center and sought help from instructors and a dietitian.

Sahara seemed to improve after two surgeons in California removed 75 percent of her tumor, but her father said she suffered from a weakened heart. Sahara, also known as "Hoops," died at her home Nov. 5, 2007, at age 13.

Sahara Aldridge at the Rick Springfield concert Dec. 8, 2006. (Fred Lynch)

"The last thing we ever talked about was sports," Aldridge said. "We were just sitting there watching Monday Night Football."

Aldridge credits Sahara's physical fitness for helping to prolong her life.

"I got 17 months with her instead of a year. That should inspire anybody to want to get out there and get in shape. If you can get an extra few days on Earth to spend with your family and friends because you are in shape, it's worth it," he said.

The grief Aldridge feels over the loss of Sahara inspired him to strive for a better life and helped him discover a way to honor her memory. Since 2006, he has lost 140 pounds. He has become an avid runner and is training for the St. Jude's Cancer Run in Memphis, Tenn., scheduled for December. Last August, he ran his first 5K race. On Thursday he ran in the Jackson Homecomer's 5K Race.

At Fitness Plus, he works out five times a week, mixing cardio activities with weight lifting. On Saturdays, he said he runs at least six miles. He uses his passion for exercising as emotional and physical therapy for missing his daughter.

He said Sahara's fight with cancer and her death could have sent him over the edge, but he resisted.

"It's been an absolutely incredible thing, because I could have started drinking all the time, started doing drugs, I could have gotten as big as a house. I went the completely opposite way. I decided to concentrate on fitness and eating the right food," Aldridge said.

Aldridge said since he's been at Fitness Plus, the instructors and staff, especially Cliff Green, have helped in his mission to become fit. Before he began losing weight, he was a borderline diabetic with high blood pressure.

He said his wife has also begun to walk for fitness and has stopped drinking sodas.

Aldridge said Sahara would be proud of him.

"She was the one who said, when this all started, that she would help," he said. "She has inspired so many different people, for different things. She never dreamed how much she would help me. When I run, she's there, I feel her with me."

"Through all this, I don't think she's inspired anyone more than me," Aldridge said. "I'm doing all this with a live-to-win attitude. Which means pursue your goals, your challenges and your dreams. I may not always succeed, but as long as I fail on my own terms, I won."