Simply indomitable
Editorial - Tuesday, August 14, 2007 @ 09:00

Every now and then we learn of a life filled with so much hope, joy and inspiration that it makes us take stock of our own lives and aspirations. Greater Sudbury's Minna Mettinen-Kekalainen is living such a life.

Mettinen was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease - more than two years ago, and yet she is a healthier and happier person today, and a shining example of the heights to which anyone can soar, even when grounded by a wheelchair.

Mettinen learned of her illness after a lengthy hospital stay. Dulled by painkillers, permanently groggy and hopelessly overweight, she was alert enough only be concerned for her two teenaged children. And that was enough.

She left hospital and decided to reclaim her life - disease or no disease. Since then, she has embarked on an exercise regime that would put any able-bodied athlete to shame.


Every day she travels by Handi-Transit from Capreol to downtown Sudbury. There, she works out at he YMCA, then wheels herself over to the Sudbury Canoe Club for rowing practice and then to various therapists. She has rolled herself as far as Four Corners and back in an afternoon for an appointment. She skateboards with her son at the Minnow Lake skate park. Last week, she disappeared for a day to go tandem skydiving north of Toronto, a "most beautiful experience" she vows to repeat solo.

She plans to become the first wheelchair athlete to paddle in the Canadian masters sprint kayaking championship on Aug. 26 among a field of able-bodied athletes. She raced in her first half-marathon last fall and plans to compete in her first marathon this fall.

And she does it all despite an incurable illness that deteriorates voluntary muscles - her grip strength is 20 per cent what it was two years ago. And her food choices are limited to soft things she can swallow - soft fruit, shakes, hummus and mostly liquids.

Mettinen's secret is simple: Focus on challenges rather than limitations; and on opportunities rather than obstacles.

With that in mind, it's a run of good fortune to which Mettinen credits her outlook. When she decided she wanted to race wheelchairs, a racing wheelchair arrived from Paralympian champion racer and e-mail friend Cheri Blauwet, along with an inspirational message.

Similarly, both at the YMCA and the canoe club, Mettinen has met just the right people at just the right time to make possible everything she wanted, including equipment, funding and programming. And not just for her, for other disabled athletes who need to be challenged.

Her real strength is not in her muscular arms, it's the sheer force of her will. Mettinen compares her degenerative disease to a water glass with a small hole in the bottom. Her deterioration is the water slowly leaking. If she continues to fill the glass as fast as possible, perhaps she can keep it from going dry.

Far from merely soldiering on with her disease, Mettinen is a commanding presence in Sudbury as an athlete, as an advocate for the physically challenged and as a mother. And, perhaps most importantly, as a role model for everyone who occasionally wonders if we're doing enough with our lives.

What do you think? Send us your opinion in a Letter to the Editor at 33 MacKenzie St., Sudbury, P3C 4Y1, or fax it to 674-6834 or e-mail it to letters@thesudburystar.com

The inspirational Minna Mettinen-Kekalainen

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