Chronic patients are lucky, too.
I have a story to tell about this year’s 2009 American Lung
Association of Washington’s Trek Tri Island’s three-day bike trip –
but to tell it, you need to understand the beginning first.
I hope I am permitted to do this…the story is not about me, it
never has been.
It is a story about a person who went from fit and health and
physically active into a patient who couldn’t breathe and thought
she was dying.
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Sharon’s Ride
September 2005
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A dream come true. I worked hard for pledge dollars and LOVED EVERY
MINUTE of it. For the first time since 1997 I dared to go on a
trip… and had no idea how I would manage without my BiPap, my water
pills … put up a tent, take it down… carry my stuff around…
At the start I felt like a breathless beached whale… wondering what I was doing with a group of – clearly – fit people on a three day American Lung Association of Washington three day bike ride on a trike I’d never ridden before. It seemed all my exercise work wasn’t enough. EFFORTS – thoughts of EFFORTS – all you – kept me going!
The outstanding help and assistance I received from the volunteer crew enabled me to keep going, but it was a fellow trike rider, Dan… who must have seen I was struggling and rode up behind and asked if he could help. He patiently taught me how to shift gears, including the big gears until I could ‘feel’ the shifting… as well as see the speedometer computer jump to reflect speed… proof to me shifting pays off.
COPD has given me the opportunity to slow down and discover incredible kindness of folks that I never had time to notice before. EFFORTS gave me my life back – exercise lets me function…
Ferry schedules are kept – ferries wait for no one. The outstanding volunteer group helped me ‘keep up’… in particular, Don.
On the last day Don drove me and my trike far enough out to get a head start and I began pedaling the final 19.2 miles into Victoria B.C. and the Victoria Clipper. Pedaling up hills I stopped whenever I needed to – sometimes every couple of feet – for a minute or two. I sat on my trike until I could go again.
Foot by foot I pedaled to the top of the hills and barreled down the other side. Until…close to Victoria – a hill came into sight that appeared almost vertical. I couldn’t see the top. I stopped when I got to the bottom and stared up. I was outfaced. If I started up I couldn’t stop to rest until I got over it. It was steep, yes, but I was too close to stop now. I started up.
The top of the hill got closer until I was just below it my legs shook from the strain and I couldn’t breathe – I labored to keep going. All of a sudden the trike felt light and we raced upward. A voice yelled, “Keep pedaling”!
My feet flew –we hit the summit and started down the other side. I yelled back, “Thank you!” Someone saw I was in trouble and pushed me up! I let the trike race down until I could pedal and breathe again and my heart quit jumping and thumping.
It was Don one of the ALA of WA’s extraordinary volunteers … I’d passed him parked on the side of the road several times during the 19.2 mile ride. He’d ask if I wanted to stop? I”d answer, “No, I’ll keep going for now.”
Thanks to many people I rode my trike 19.2 miles into Victoria and when I got there I couldn’t stop tears from welling behind my sunglasses.
You did it, EFFORTS. You taught me how to live again, gave me my life back. And to see the bright red EFFORTS tee-shirt and meet the man inside, Chris, EFFORTS Ambassador to Canada and his lovely wife was pure joy. Chris is so EFFORTS oriented, so energetic, so giving… he gave me his watch when I said I didn’t have one. And our watch says it is now 3:49pm.
God Bless. Thank you for helping me live again. EXERCISE FOLKS
please help yourself…. and join me next time?
Sharon O’Hara
http://www.effortsmembers.org/Happenings/shar_ride_p1.htm
More later… Sharon O’Hara
