Thanx dealie...actually I've learned to live w/ it or around it or under it or something like that--it's tough--but one finds courage one didn't know one had. Here's a nice story of such courage:
Philadelphia Inquirer
Sunday, September 2, 2001
Walking to help conquer debilitating arthritis
He still has a bodybuilder's physique - broad shoulders, bulging
biceps, powerful forearms, a trim waist. There are no real obvious
signs of the damage that Lyme disease has done to his body. But it
has done damage. It could eventually kill him, he says
matter-of-factly.
J'Tone DaCosta, 69, of Vineland, wants to alert others -
particularly children - to the ordeal that is Lyme arthritis. That's
why he plans to walk in the Joints in Motion marathon Oct. 29 in
Dublin, Ireland.
DaCosta will join about 3,200 others from the United States -
about 35 from New Jersey - who plan to run or walk in the
marathon to raise money for arthritis research. There is a second
arthritis-benefit marathon scheduled for Dec. 9 in Honolulu.
Why Dublin and Honolulu? Well, because they are nice places to
visit. But what is more important, marathons there allow walkers.
Though many of the participants are perfectly healthy, there are
others with arthritis-related or other physical problems that prevent
them from running.
The marathons are big money-raisers. Last year the New Jersey
Arthritis Foundation alone realized $300,000 from the Dublin
event. Each Dublin participant for the foundation must come up
with $4,000 from sponsors. About a third of that goes for trip
expenses for the six-day and five-night trip. The remainder goes to
the foundation.
Participants from the American Arthritis Foundation make up
almost half of the 8,000 or so runners and walkers expected in the
Dublin race.
Approximately 28 percent of New Jersey adults have some form
of arthritis and almost half of those diagnosed with arthritis don't
know what type they have, according to the state Department of
Health and Senior and Services. Arthritis affects 43 million
Americans of all ages, or nearly 15 percent of the population. The
number is expected to increase to 60 million by 2020.
As athletic as he is - he once was a weightlifter and bodybuilder -
DaCosta wouldn't attempt to run the 26-plus miles. Just to get
through them by walking - with this ailment - would be a
remarkable achievement.
He is taking a 20-week program to prepare him for the walk,
under the guidance of Tracy Fuoco, 26, a gym general manager in
Delran. She has been training arthritis marathoners for years. Last
year, Fuoco trained a man who managed the 26 miles on crutches.
It took him 15 hours to cover the route.
DaCosta can do a 17-minute mile now, Fuoco said, and he hopes
to do better by October.
"He has a lot of drive in him," she said.
There is also the possibility that he won't be able to participate at
all - if his Lyme-arthritis problems kick up just before the starting
gun.
DaCosta looks at himself as involved in sort of a Rocky-like drama
- as in the leading character in the Sylvester Stallone films. Can he
rise up off the mat and clobber that monster called Lyme disease?
Tune in on Oct. 29 and see.
There is a connection between the real and the Rocky reel.
DaCosta is a former movie actor and stuntman who had small parts
in the films Rocky II and Rocky III. Now the father of 14 from two
marriages works as a screenwriter.
He may write his best real-life drama in Dublin. To compete, he
will have to walk through the pain that often takes over in his back,
spine, knees and ankles. Some days he says it's more than he can
bear.
Many people don't relate Lyme disease with arthritis - but it affects
areas in and around the joints just as do rheumatoid arthritis,
osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and up to 130 other related arthritic
diseases.
Lyme disease is brought on by the bite of an infected tick.
Treatment is most successful in the early stages. Untreated, it can
cause serious nerve or heart problems and turn into chronic
arthritis. That is where DaCosta is.
About a dozen years ago, he suffered from Bell's palsy, a sudden
paralysis of the facial muscles. About the same time, he must have
been bitten by a disease-bearing tick. DaCosta believes it
happened on a camping trip to Canada. Though it could have
occurred, for that matter, somewhere on the 17 acres he lives on in
Vineland.
The Bell's ailment delayed discovery of the Lyme disease. By the
time doctors found the disease, it was incurable. It went into his
back and spine. He suffered blinding headaches.
DaCosta knew about pain, even before his ailments. As a movie
stuntman he made his living in the 1960s by getting intentionally
thrown off galloping horses or speeding trucks. The South
Philadelphia native picked up a few broken bones along the way.
Later he was employed in less dangerous work - in movie parts
and with local theater companies in such productions as The
Sound of Music, The Man of La Mancha and The Phantom of
the Opera. He is now content to restrict his theater work to
writing.
All will be put aside until the Dublin run. In the best Rocky
tradition, he expects to be there.
DaCosta said: "My father used to say, 'One thing I can't stand is a
quitter.' I agree with that." He's not a quitter. If he can make it, he
will be there. |
