THE KEY: QUALITY OF LIFE

My triathlon coach, Michelle, has a gentleman on her team who about a month ago had a tragic cycling accident that currently has him paralyzed from his mid-section down. As you can imagine, this has been and will continue to be very challenging for him as well as for his wife and two young children. This event gave me great pause. I know what my diagnosis did to my sons. I also know that my boys gave me the biggest reason not to quit fighting and to do whatever it took to create as normal a life as I could for them given my “limitations.”

What I have been fighting for for about the last year has not been about beating everyone else in the triathlon or even getting a great time. It has been about my quality of life. I had my infusion yesterday and Lynn told me about a patient that may never be able to complete a triathlon or 5K or any athletic “event” but, because she read our blog, decided that she wanted to improve her quality of life. Lynn got her a bike pedal set that simply sits in front of her chair so that she can move her legs. None of us knows what that might enable her to do in a year, two or ten. It doesn’t matter. I would bet that the simple fact that she is pedaling has already improved her quality of life and lessened the natural human response to dwell on “our problems”.

I spoke to a group of young leaders at some of our team members’ high school the other day. One of the young ladies in class said that a family member died of MS because she quit when she got the diagnosis. I guess my rambling point is that being active may not make our medical problems disappear but it most assuredly will improve our quality of life and will certainly keep us from dwelling on things that are negative. That is what is important. Not winning a race. Maybe it is not something physical or athletic. Maybe it is painting. Maybe it is singing. Find SOMETHING that prevents you from dwelling on the negative, gives you a positive attitude and improves your quality of life. Do not expect your life to continue as YOU planned. Take the life you are given and make it GREAT.

Good luck, KEEP TRYING and my best,

-Trace