The journey so far…

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Someone once said that all things happen for a reason. As any skater will tell you, the journey through skating and life seem endlessly intertwined. My own journey began just like anyone else’s at the local skating rink in the late 70’s in Melbourne, Australia. I realized soon enough that the rental boots were really annoying to wear and I could see other boys and girls going really fast on lower cut “speed skates”. Soon after I remember asking my parents for a pair for my birthday. The rest came easy as I recall. Suddenly I had a bunch of new friends and we were meeting every Friday and Saturday night at the local skating rink.

As my own skating developed, I started noticing that some of my friends were getting more serious. Some were already starting to race and talk about training for this as a sport. We started mounting soccer/football boots to our plates and would go out on the road and to an old velodrome nearby. I started going along to speed practice and even raced a few times. I remember getting my first pair of custom skating boots from a friend along with some new Italian plates and a set of Fan Jets. It was a great time in my life. All my mates were skating. We were all hanging around with girls that skated. We didn’t know there was a word for it at the time, but it had become a lifestyle!

As life took its inevitable turns I found myself not skating for a couple of years. I had left school, gotten my first full time job, been broken hearted over a girl and started driving. But something was nagging at me. I found myself working and living close to a rink again. I started going by myself just to keep in shape and soon after, I once again made a bunch of new friends and started spending more time at the rink. I decided to join the speed team and really gave it a good crack for a few years before once again, settling into a life of work, buying a house and the rest of what adulthood brings.

Although I would drop in now and again, I never really got back into it properly. Life had other plans for me. In 2000 I went traveling and ended up finding work in the USA. I’ve been here ever since. In 2011 after a continual battle with pneumonia I was diagnosed with a rare genetic lung disease called Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. I didn’t notice it at first but over time I began to become more and more short of breath and finally had to stop working. I began a fitness regimen at the pulmonary rehab clinic through the local hospital but my conditioned worsened. My wife was helping me every day. I was on oxygen and having infusions all the time. My young children were struggling to deal my illness. Finally I was in hospital for sometimes weeks or months at a time.

Time was running out. I was finally transported to Duke Hospital in October 2017 after severe complications where they told me they were finally listing me for a double lung transplant. They estimated at the time that I had about 6 weeks to live. On Thanksgiving night in November that year I received the life changing phone call. The next morning I was in surgery. The next weeks were agonizing as I progressed through the recovery period. I had lots of pain, my muscles were weak and I had lost a ton of weight. I slowly came back to life with the help of the folks at Duke rehab and then with the Physical Therapy team at the local YMCA.

Here’s where skating comes back into the picture. My doctor at Duke had asked me earlier in the evaluation process what I would do if I ever received the gift of new lungs. I knew right away that I wanted to skate again. For over 2 years I could barely walk from one end of the house to the other, and not without oxygen. Just four short months after my transplant I sent him and the Duke team a video of me skating outdoors! I spent the rest of that year getting weight back on and improving my fitness. When I was over a year out from transplant I decided to see if there was somewhere I could get back into skating again. Not long after I joined the local team here in North Carolina. I came home after practice the first day and said to my wife, “I found my people”.

So here I am. Happy to have another chance at life, skating regularly, and even have competing a little. My transplant team are stoked to see me using my gift so effectively and I’m blessed to have a loving wife and terrific young children. Even better, my daughter just got her very first pair of skates and wants to learn how to go fast! Sounds good to me. I totally get it…