All Laura Stokes really had in mind that day, about twoyears ago, was to get in shape so she could keep up with her very activebrother and sister, who loved to go on long hikes in the woods.

“I was breathless, out of shape and ashamed, “ says Stokes,a 20-something who’d been too busy caring for very sick patients in her job asa pediatric oncology nurse at Boston Children’s Hospital to give any thought totaking care of herself. “I definitelywasn’t living a very healthy life.”

When she couldn’t keep up with her brother one day, hedecided to help her make a change. He heard about a boxing gym near her house,so for Christmas, he gave her a pair of boxing gloves and three trainingsessions with personal trainer Tracey Pierce, at Elite Boxing & Fitness.

“It was really cool, but it took me until the followingAugust to actually make that first appointment,” says Stokes.

She joined the gym, despite the fact that she “hated everysingle minute of every training session. And that was just conditioning. “

It took Stokes almost 9 months to finally try boxing.

“It was another year later that I went with all the girlsfrom the gym to see Liz Weber’s fight in the Belles of the Brawl,” she says. “Iremember thinking, ‘this is the coolest thing EVER!’ but couldn’t quite seemyself there. Then I read something Liz posted about her Haymakers journey.”

Weber, who’d found boxing after a rough patch in her life,wrote, “…I can't even explain themental/emotional shift, except to say that two years ago I felt like a loser,and now I feel like a fighter, whether things are going my way or not.”

“That quote made me realize that Liz had started like me,and she did this amazing thing,” says Stokes. “I didn’t think it was somethinga normal person could do!”

The day after Weber’s fight, Stokes found herself at the gymwith Tracey “half-joking” about her doing Haymakers the following year.

“Literally a week later, I started training with Zach,” saysStokes.

That was November 2015.

Stokes will be the first to fess up to being a tough personto coach. She argued. She complained. She resisted. But she met her match inZach Reay, the boxing director at Elite, who has taken 13 fighters to Haymakerssince 2012, including his most recent Belles fighters Michelle Fox, Sue Bator,and Stokes.

Through group classes, team sparring and one-on-one trainingsessions, Reay pushed Stokes far beyond her limits and slowly, steadily, turnedher into a fighter.

“I was not a picnic to train. I had no self esteem, no confidenceand no self respect,” she says. “I fought with him a lot. One time he basically screamed at me theentire time. But because of him I understand how boxing works. It’s why he’s sogood.”

Stokes also had her own way to stay motivated.

“I started giving myself little rewards for improvingendurance or strength,” she says. “So Imarked the moments when I could work a 3-minute round without a break, and whenI went from barely able to do one proper push up to where I could do 100. WhenI hit a big weight goal, I gave myself new gloves. When I could do 100 leglifts, I bought headgear. When I did 10 double-unders in a row, I got a newgear bag.

“And Zach gave me mitts when I hit another weight goal and aT-shirt when I managed a 2-minute plank.”

By the time fight night rolled around, Stokes had crushedall of her goals, including the big one: she lost 90 lbs. over the two yearssince she first set foot in the gym.

“Boxing changed everything for me, at home and at work,” shesays. “Training for Haymakers was really hard. In order to train before some ofmy nursing shifts, I had to get up at 3:30 in the morning. I felt really sorryfor myself. I would think, ‘why am I doing this? It is much harder than I everthought it would be.’ But then one day, I was outside a young patient’s room—ateenager who was on a lot of meds and had tubes everywhere and he always wokeup feeling really crappy, and it hit me. That—THAT—is so much harder than what I was doing. I don’t have to gothrough that, like he does, and I don’t have to be his mom or siblings watchinghim go through it.

“So yeah, working with kids—cancer patients—this job gave meexceptional perspective on the training. I never looked at it the same wayafter that.”

As word of her Haymakers training spread through thehospital, Stokes was finding a groundswell of support among her patients andtheir families, as well as the medical staff.

“I was getting so much inspiration from both the gym and atwork,” she says. “Some of my coworkers did challenges with me like running orbox jumps or pushups. And some of the kids liked to help me by punching me.They were in it to win it with me. They believed in me so I started to believein myself. I was starting to feel proud.”

In all, Stokes sold 110 tickets to the fight and raisedalmost $17,000 in primarily small donations.

By the time she climbed in the ring, no one was more readythan Stokes.

“I had everybody there. I just knew I had to do my best forthem and for myself. And then— Iwas so shocked when I won!”

Two of Stokes’ younger patients — Kinzie, 7, and Paris, 13,even served as Ring Card Girls for fight night and both walked the ringtogether for Stokes’ bout.

“That was incredible,” she says. “Paris said it was one ofthe coolest nights of her life, partly because she got to meet other people whohad been through cancer. I had a bloody nose after the fight, and Kinzie saidto me: ‘this is funny, you usually are the one who takes care of my bloodynoses!’”

As for Stokes, nothing else in her life could compare withwhat she’d just done.

“It really was the best night of my life,” she says. “I justwanted to soak it all in and be in the moment. In the last two years, my lifehas changed so much.

“Now that the training is done, I am looking for balance,and learning to be happy and healthy,” says Stokes, adding that she’s nowenjoying routine 10-mile hikes with her siblings and her dog. “I’m grateful to come out of this experiencea smaller—yet bigger—person.”