For My Dad

Because when you're out on the course, all that's there is your internal monolog

In the fall of 2011 while training for Ironman Panama in February 2012, I started thinking that it’d be good to race for more than just myself. That if I could use my training and racing to raise awareness and funds for some worthwhile charity or organization I could do good in the world and not solely for myself.

I started looking around and considering different options. Unfortunately, while I found many great organizations, none of them resonated with me; I guess for the most part, because me and my family are pretty healthy and happy. The closest to home would have been an organization like the Blazeman Foundation, which brings awareness to ALS (also called Lou Gehrig’s disease) and raises money for ALS research. I’ve lost a friend to ALS and have another who’s been battling it for over a decade (against all odds). Unfortunately, it just didn’t resonate for me.

Then, in October, my dad contracted GBS (Guillain Barre Syndrome), a potentially fatal and somewhat rare disorder of peripheral nervous system. Guillain Barre Syndrome is a result of antigens that weakened the immune system. These infectious antigens attack the nervous system and damage the nerves. This auto-immune infection turns the peripheral nerves in inflammation of conduction block and myelin. My dad went from normal/good health recovering from a lung infection, to hospitalized, paralyzed and immobile overnight! Had my mother not been as quick getting him to the hospital the night before, he’d have likely died in his sleep when his ability to breathe on his own stopped. Wow! Scary stuff.

Well, it’s now mid-December and Dad’s been moved out of ICU, he’s able to breathe on his own and can (recently) swallow and so is finally starting to eat foods again. He’s on the mend and is making great progress. 90% of GBS victims achieve full recovery. My dad may be in that 90%, we’re hopeful, but some early testing indicates that he may have long-term nervous system damage in his legs that may have longer-term impacts on his mobility. We just don’t know yet. One day at a time…

Some famous people who’ve had GBS:

Andy Griffith, actor
Rachel Chagall, actress
Joseph Heller, author
Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. president. In 2003 doctors concluded that Roosevelt”s paralysis, long attributed to poliomyelitis, was actually Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Len Pasquarelli, sports writer and analyst for ESPN
Markus Babbel, German soccer player
Serge Payer, Canadian-born professional hockey player.
Morten Wieghorst, Danish soccer player played for Celtic and Brondby
Lucky Oceans, Grammy Award winning musician
William “The Refrigerator” Perry, former professional American football player with the Chicago Bears was diagnosed with GBS in 2008.
Tony Benn, British politician.

But now I have something that hit close to home, something that many people have never heard of and that doesn’t have a lot of press. The NBC announcer frequently says when referencing Ironman athletes “swim for those who can’t swim”, “bike for those who cannot ride” and ”run for those who cannot run”. Now, for me, this is personal. Sure, I’m doing it for me. But, Dad, I’m doing it for you too!

Can’t wait for summer: we’ll hopefully get you on a bike and you can pace me on some training runs. Get well soon!