Just standing at the Boston Marathon starting line will be an emotional experience for Preston's Kris-Anne Kane.

"It's going to be overwhelming," Kane said. "I'm excited. I'm really, really excited."

Kane has already conquered more difficult challenges than Heartbreak Hill just to be able to run her first Boston Marathon.

In the three years leading up to Monday's race, Kane has battled back from two eye surgeries, a pulmonary embolism and a debilitating illness. At times, she logged more miles going to doctor's appointments and making emergency room visits than on training runs.

But her health issues were only temporarily derailing.

Sheer determination, willpower and her fierce competitive spirit pushed Kane through all the potential roadblocks and kept her on the path to Boston.

Ten days shy of turning 55 years old, she will complete her amazing comeback story on Monday.

"I wasn't going to give up and I wasn't going to give in," Kane said. "If anything, all these setbacks help empower me to be stronger and fight more to get back to where I was. It's been a long journey."

A long journey, indeed, for the 1982 St. Bernard School graduate.

Flash back to three years ago.

A veteran of the local road racing circuit and long-time member of the Mohegan Striders, Kane never thought she'd run the Boston Marathon.

In April 2016, a fellow runner and friend, Jim Roy, suggested that Kane tackle the Boston Marathon. She had done a half-marathon to celebrate turning 50.

Kane's initial response?

"I just rolled my eyes and thought, 'yeah, whatever.' "

Then the idea gradually began to intrigue her.

Always up for a challenge, she figured, why not?

After a summer of hard training, she completed the Hartford Marathon in October 2016 and placed third in her age group in three hours, 32 minutes, well under the qualifying time of four hours for Boston. Kane called it an amazing day.

"I was just on a marathon high," she said. "It was fabulous."

Since registration already had ended for the 2017 Boston Marathon, she had a year and a half to train for her debut.

But a series of serious setbacks would threaten to end her running days.

A few days after running Kelley's Pace Frostbite Five Miler in January 2017, she began to feel ill. She couldn't run 100 yards without experiencing a shortness of breath.

Still feeling lousy two weeks later, Kane went to the emergency room. She was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism.

"I spent the night in the hospital and I had a blood clot in my lung, basically," Kane explained. "I was on blood thinners for several weeks and I had to miss out on training."

It was just the beginning of a string of health issues.

Near the end of May 2017, Kane came down with a high fever and couldn't shake it. After initially being misdiagnosed, she eventually discovered she had Babesiosis, a tick-borne disease.

"I was very, very sick," Kane said. "I couldn't work, couldn't run. Just dead to the world. I just couldn't get off the couch. Horrible night sweats, too. They call it the malaria of New England."

After laying low for most of the summer, Kane gradually returned to exercise, beginning with some brisk walks. But she developed tendonitis in her foot, leading to more time on the sideline.

"I barely ran all of 2017," Kane said.

Given all her bad luck that year, 2018 had to be better, right?

Not so fast.

The year got off to an encouraging start as Kane finished the New Bedford Half-Marathon that March in 1:39, giving her hope that she'd be ready for Boston in April.

Her spirits soared.

Then 18 days before the 2018 Boston Marathon, Kane began experiencing problems with her vision while teaching a spin class at the Mystic branch of the Ocean Community YMCA.

Complicating matters, she's been blind in her right eye since the age of 13 from a dart accident. At one point, Kane's doctor told her she shouldn't run at all.

This time, Kane's left eye was the problem, forcing her to make yet another trip to the emergency room.

At first, doctors thought she might be having a stroke. The next day, she visited a specialist and discovered that she had a torn retina.

Kane underwent successful laser surgery and reluctantly followed her doctor's advice to skip Boston last spring. She kept a positive attitude and maintained her sense of humor during a difficult time.

"I just kept telling myself to keep pushing forward and roll with the changes," Kane said.

By now, most people probably would have given up their pursuit of running the Boston Marathon. ... but Kane is definitely not like most people.

Her next journey down the comeback trail also was cut short.

More bad news.

"Four weeks after surgery, it hemorrhaged," said Kane, referring to a blood vessel. "My vision was just extremely cloudy. I couldn't see 10 feet in front of me. Again, I couldn't drive, couldn't work, couldn't run. Just basically home-bound for probably another five or six weeks."

Yet Kane would not be deterred.

After another long period of rest, Kane noticed something wrong with her vision during a walk. She informed her doctor about it during her next weekly check-up.

She learned that she had a detached retina.

"Which was what we were trying to avoid the whole time because being blind in one eye, any surgery is a risk for me," Kane said. "With detached retina surgery, you have to keep your head down for two weeks and not lift it."

Another surgery, this one last June and more intense than the previous one.

It was an uncomfortable recovery, to say the least. She got through it thanks to help from family and friends. Nine days after surgery, her vision returned.

"It was like heaven," Kane said.

Last August, she resumed training and piled up the miles. She never considering giving up.

"I knew I had to do it," Kane said.

Now Kane, who received a medical deferment from the Boston Athletic Association that allowed her to run this year's race, is finally in a good place.

She's healthy and feels good about her conditioning. Her goal is to finish in three hours, 40 minutes.

But Kane is also understandably nervous. Her vision limits her and she's worried about dealing with the crowds of runners. She plans to stick to the right side of the road.

Conditions could also be miserable with the early forecast calling for heavy rain and wind. That's a minor obstacle compared to what she's overcome.

"I'm grateful I can stand on the starting line this year," Kane said. "There are thousands of people that miss out on qualifying and don't get this chance. This is the most prestigious road race in the world. They call it the Holy Grail of running. I'm extremely grateful that I'm going to have this opportunity."

Kane's health issues aren't over. As a result of her last eye surgery, she developed a cataract in her left eye. Yet another procedure is in her future.

"It's actually getting pretty bad," she said with a laugh. "So as soon as Boston is over, I'm going to have surgery to have this cataract removed."

And then perhaps another comeback is in her future, too.

"It's been a long journey since I started training three years ago," Kane said. "I never thought I'd be running the Boston Marathon. ... It's been a bumpy road to get to Hopkinton."

g.keefe@theday.com

LOCAL RUNNERS IN 2019 BOSTON MARATHON

Name, age, town

Josh Handler, 21, Oakdale

Robert LaFrance, 22, Groton

Bess Ritter, 31, Quaker Hill

Justin Madry, 37, Waterford

Miles Garrett, 37, East Lyme

Peter Zelken, 38, Groton

Jennifer Massengale, 39, Mystic

Latoya Harwell, 39, Gales Ferry

Sarah Osgood, 43, Oakdale

Sarah Foley, 45, Old  Lyme

Matt Forde, 45, Mystic

Melissa Jankowski, 46, Mystic

Daniel Strasshofer, 46, Stonington

Stanley Mickus, 51, Mystic

Pamela Schroeder, 51, Mystic

Lisa Strom, 52, Norwich

Pamela Dolan, 52, Mystic

Carol Rose, 52, Ledyard

Tracy Drozynski, 53,  Norwich

Robert Mauthe, 54, East Lyme

Kris-Anne Kane, 54, Preston

Stephen Campbell, 64, Old Lyme

Way Hedding, 69, Niantic

Leeland Cole-Chu, 70, Salem