KELLY WALKER-HALEY
People With MS and the Courage to Give
Chapter 8: Focusing on Wellness
THE LACK OF CONTROL I FELT being diagnosed with MS was the most frustrating part for me. But there was also such a reality check; what are we really in control of anyway, besides our beliefs and how we choose to live each moment?
A long time ago, before I was ever diagnosed with MS, I went for a long run to let out some energy, and during the run the thought flashed through my mind that some day I was not going to be able to run away from my problems. In some mystical way, I think I was preparing myself for living with MS.
An exercise physiologist and aerobics instructor working on my masters in exercise, physiology, and wellness at Colorado State University, my entire being centered on wellness. I also worked at the university placing students in internships across the country and loved sharing my enthusiasm with them. So what does a person with a passion for wellness do when she is diagnosed with MS and confined to a wheelchair, can’t teach aerobics at the health club, and can’t go out and run?
The first thing she does is change her perspective. I contacted our local MS chapter for support and information. It so happened they had been trying to
organize an exercise class and hadn’t been successful, so I started a chair aerobics program. Some of my students from the university came over to help. If someone couldn’t move their legs or even upper body very well, they would help with passive range-of-motion exercises.
My brothers, my husband, and my sister-in-law started a team for the MS Bike Tour and named it Team Sugar Bee—that’s what my brother used to call me when we were growing up. Their shirts were bright yellow with black stripes, so we actually looked like a bunch of bumblebees! Team Sugar Bee grew each year. Colleagues, friends, and cousins joined the team; I would go and cheer them on. My parents even started a rest stop—The Bee Stop—with relatives and friends giving out water, food, and mostly love.
As grateful as I was for their efforts and the funds they were raising, I grew tired of being on the sidelines. Then my brother Eric told me about a grant for people with MS, and I said, “If I win, I would like to see about getting a tandem bike so I can ride with you guys.”
After getting the grant, I did some inquiring and discovered Angletech—a bike shop in Woodland Park, Colorado, specializing in tandem recumbent bikes! I let them know I had no use of my legs but had strong arms. Calvin Clark at Angletech knew just what to do.
He designed an arm-crank bike for my husband, Jack, and me. The bike is amazing. It’s almost like sitting in a chair—my legs are straight out in front—and I have an arm crank. I can sit and pedal with Jack. He does most of the work; he even steers.
The first time we tested the tandem, we went up to Horsetooth, some foothills right by our house. As we rode, I remember shouting, “This is incredible.” I hadn’t been up there since we used to hike. I felt like a bird, so free. It was like I was back in the driver’s seat.
We started riding in the MS 150 on that bike. The first year, I had to train hard, about four months, but it was worth it. We only biked forty miles, but I was so psyched that it felt like we had done the entire 150.
This year, our eighth, we have three goals:
- to have 130 Team Sugar Bees
- for Jack and me to go at least twenty miles
- to continue to raise funds, awareness, and hope for those challenged with MS.
I’m in a wheelchair but I continue to move, and my hope is that others with MS find ways to do the same. I’ve got a mini arm-crank that I don’t use enough, but I do lift five-pound weights, and I have a recumbent bike that I ride in the house. I usually have to hold my left leg and help it a little bit. I made myself a deal a long time ago; I can only watch my favorite soap, General Hospital, if I’m being productive, so I get on that bike Monday through Friday.
At my ten-year high school reunion people were reminiscing and someone asked, “Who was the first woman to letter nine times at Alameda?” I thought about the irony of life, laughed, and shouted, “ME!” with joy and pride.
The way I see it, it took me getting ill to get well.
I really relate to the saying “Life is 90 percent attitude and 10 percent situation.” Sure, we face challenges living with MS, but it’s our choice to be angry and bitter and think of ourselves as ill or to lead our lives centered on wellness— love, laughter, and maybe, maybe even riding a tandem!
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