Well, this is interesting. I am incredibly impressed at this young lady, and inspired by her tenacity.

http://fairfoundation.org/news_lette...y_oleksiuk.pdf

Wow, thanks for sharing.

I certainly hope this helps the Neuropathy Association. This young woman is a force to be reckoned with. Good for her.

Very inspirational. Thanks for sharing. But then, so are you Cyclelops, with all you do. There are plenty of people I consider heroes on this board, and probably many more than we know. It always gives us a boost to hear of someone's success in overcoming obstacles.

Woops! I forgot to mention that you, Mel, are also one of my favorite heroes, due to your weight management/eating lifestyle. I have lost 30 pounds since last November. You have helped me so much with your attitude about food!

Susan:

What a nice thing to say.

And believe me, even nicer to hear.

Thanks much.

Oh my, not in my wildest dreams could I ever do an Ironman. I used to do a quarter of one. For the uninitiated, they come in sprint, olympic, half ironman and ironman distances. I used to do the mini or sprint one. I wanted to do an olympic distance one, but my body would not take that run....too long a time of being upright under stress, and my cardiovascular system, dumps on me. My blood vessels dilate, BP sinks and pulse drops...just like on the stress test.

Now I would relish finishing last in a sprint tri....just want to finish one again...don't know if that is possible, as I know my disease is progressive, and training, can only do so much. It is like swimming upstream a raging river....if you can stay in one place you are doing well....but not to swim at all is to get washed out to sea. Right? I have family members who have volunteered to do it with me, we will see.

Once a triathlete, regardless of the distance, always a triathlete.

It is good that some one IS doing things for Neuropathy Awareness....but it also shows the divergent types of PN, and her PN, will resolve, eventually get better and possibly disappear. For her sake, I hope. Never the less, doing an Ironman with ANY medical condition is the hardest thing to do.

I remember one man, who pulled his profoundly handicapped son thru the race. He did it for decades, from when his son was young to when his son was an adult. He swam 2 miles pulling his son on a raft like contraption, biked with him attached and ran with him in a specially designed wheelchair. He pulled an entire whole other human being thru that race. I am not sure if he is still doing it, as the son, was totally handicapped and the man did age up into his 50's.

There comes a point when you hang up the towel....and you look back and say, 'this is what I did...and it is OK, that I don't do it anymore'. I wish I could remember his name, but I can only remember him by his deeds. That is fine. I remember his courage and determination, which is what he wanted me to remember. And I remember the picture of his son grinning ear to ear. I think they were going to stop him from doing it, last I heard, a it was just too much.

To be honest, I think that the full Ironman is such a huge feat that, I don't think it is good for many folks to undertake. It takes a very, very special and determined person to do this kind of feat, and I hope it does not affect her health negatively, because there is a price to be paid for doing these kinds of endeavors. I am sure she had good advice and training and lots of support. I give her lots of credit and am thankful that she brought awareness to the cause of PN.

You can see tho, that, PN can come in many varieties, and that often we must live with and surmount the pain that the condition brings to our lives.

Interestingly, I have days when I am utterly inacapacitated, usually due to autonomic symptoms, as pain, usually, (not always) I push thru. You can't push thru hypotension very easily....and for some reason today, that is my issue. Dizziness and graying out. I just took a fludrocoritsone. Hypotension downs you, literally. Most people don't think of that being PN. It is. I could train up for a tri, and be incappacitated that day due to hypotension...and you don't get your race fee refunded, and they are pricey.

Well, I am not exactly holding my place in the raging river....I am still being washed downstream, and there will be no athletic events until I can hold my own in the river, and not go downstream.

His name was **** Hoyt.

Here's the article explaining his accomplishments. This guy is a hero.

http://www.iwasyouragetwice.com/node/4388

Yes, he is a hero, he didn't do it for himself, he did it for his kid...oh and by the way, I see he was in the military. A lot of my getting back on my bike was to show my kids not to let something like an accident keep them from their dreams....but never, ever, could I equal THIS man's guts!

For many years I would watch for the news story on this guy, then they kind of stopped...LOL, I guess during that time we ALL got OLD!

Well, he could still kick my butt big time and always will! It is stories like this that get my aching butt on a bike or my goosebumpy bag of bones in the pool. Both these folks are my heroes..I take that back this guy's son, too is my hero....my son is my hero, so is my daughter that did the Olympic trials, she won a national championship within 6 months of having an 8 by 10 centimeter tumor removed from her hamstring in a 4 hour long surgery. My husband is my hero too. I could never do what he does for a living, and put up with me to boot.

Notice that people with purpose do these things.

People with a sense of love of life, love of exhiliration, love of challenge, do these things. Most of them are pretty darn bright folks too.

It is crucial to maintain one's sense of purpose in life, one's sense of wonder in life.

(BTW-in no way does my sticking up for soldiers imply I support the war---I disagreed simply with the premise that mentally ill people make good soldiers)

incredible, what a difference he has made in his kids life. He will be able to look back on his life and be satisfied that he did all he could.

Thi s is just what I needed to see,anf C that brought such good memories
that wonderfull father..Larry King did a hr. long flashbach on him and his
son. I loved this just loved it..Perhaps we should see more of this,I would challenge all but we might be at it for weeks.Ha..I feel good feelings just
wonderful...Your all sweet let's keep it that way ..Your all great well almost all Hugs all Sue