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Two years ago, Michael Ring was paralyzed when he was stuck down with Guillain-Barre Syndrome following a stomach virus.(DAVID WEXLER/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) |
Two years ago, Michael Ring was
paralyzed when he was suddenly struck down by Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Saturday
he plans to walk the Brooklyn Half Marathon.
That Ring, 52,
of Park Slope, Brooklyn, is moving at all is a credit to savvy doctors and his
own indomitable spirit.
“At the end of
April 2014, I had a stomach virus to end all stomach viruses,” Ring said,
describing how his nightmare ordeal began.
Days later, “I
had insane pain in my legs and feet, which I just ignored,” he recalled.
On his twins’
14th birthday, the family went to see “Avenue Q” and the pain switched to
fatigue.
“I was dropping
dishes, stumbling,” he said.
On May 7, he
went to his doctor, who sent him straight to a hospital. She gravely explained
he had Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
On the way to
the hospital, Ring Googled it.
Ring
deteriorated quickly. Within a day, he was unable to stand or walk . He fell
into the unlucky 5% of Guillain-Barre patients who have a severe and unusual
strain, according to Dr. Myrna Cardiel, a neurologist at NYU's Langone Medical
Center.
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Ring was driven to recovery
(DAVID WEXLER/FOR |
“Guillain-Barre is a fairly common
condition that normally follows an infection,” she said. “Most patients have
that for one or two weeks and they peak and don't worsen.”
Doctors
administered different rounds of medicines, including plasma transfusions and
chemo to Ring, who responded well to the chemo.
He needed a
wheelchair, then a walker, then crutches and continues with occupational
therapy once a week.
What kept him
going and why he now hopes to walk the world’s largest half marathon is his
spirit.
“His mentality
is unbelievable,” said Dr. Jung Ahn, director of rehabilitation medicine at
NYU’s Rusk Rehabilitation.
“He never expressed
or demonstrated depression as to what he had lost. His initial goal was to get
back to running as soon as possible.”
Ring is the
first to say that as a runner, he has always been a slow poke. Growing up in
Sheepshead Bay, Ring started running in high school. He was never fast but he
was steady and ran in all weather.
He stopped
running in college. Then as a senior he decided to try the New York City
Marathon.
“I threw up all over the Queensboro
Bridge,” he recalled.
But later,
trapped in a massive car jam because of the 1991 NYC Marathon, Ring vowed again
to run it, this time training for two years.
From 1993 until
2013, he ran every New York City Marathon. In all, Ring completed 29 of the
runs.
There were some
where by mile 20 he was done. “I took a ride with an ambulance to finish,” he
said.
These days he
writes a blog about his recovery from Guillain-Barre Syndrome and hopes to get
back to full marathons after the half.
“If I can do the
half without dropping dead, then I can do the whole thing and then plop,” he
said.
Despite his
stilted stride and only regaining limited use of his hands, Ring plans to walk
and run daily.
His current
goals, he sums up, are “to finish the New York City Marathon and to use a
doorknob.”
To the left is the print edition. Half of page 22 of the Sunday edition of the New York daily news on May 15, 2016. There are more than a few factual inaccuracies in the article but none compared to the headline.
Here is a link to the whole article
This was a nice and well deserved article about you.
ReplyDeleteBeautify and very touching.
ReplyDelete