I just thought I
would share a journey that Mark has been on.
Although I have been at his side through this physical trial, there has
been many times where he has hit numerous walls that seem to limit his physical
progress. Yet, because of his
perseverance, he has pressed forward with an undying faith of “I can do
this!” Mark tends to be a very private
person and I am extremely… NOT! And,
because I am not, I want to share his journey.
In 2008, Mark
was having severe neck issues. His
diagnosis was 4-discs, from C3-C7, that had herniated. The cure:
4-level fusion. So, in August of
2008, he was wheeled away for the procedure.
They fused those levels and placed a titanium plate with all sorts of
screws to hold everything in place. He
was told his recovery time would ONLY be two weeks and he could get back to
work. (The “recovery time” issue is a
story for another time). Needless to
say, Mark went back to cath’ing, call, and office duties…feeling the pain of it
all everyday.
The next two
years were extremely painful.
Golfing-painful. Running-painful
and near impossible. Hiking-painful. Biking-painful. I think you understand. Pain became his constant companion. But, Mark was determined to run a marathon. He had his mind set to train in spite of his pain. So, he signed up for the 2010 St. George
Marathon. Then, training commenced.
Mark began to
have more and more neck pain. Not only
was he having neck pain, but he was also beginning to have neurological
symptoms. Shooting pains down his
arms. Numbing. He had been hiding it from me for quite some
time when one evening he shared his concerns.
I told him he should get an MRI or x-ray. But, do you understand that doctors are truly
the WORST patients? UGH! By that time,
unbeknownst to me, he had already begun to research neurosurgeons. He knew that something was really wrong—yet
STILL didn’t tell me.
There were many
miracles through all of this, but the first miracle was that Mark got a groin
injury that limited his running. The
injury became so painful, he finally withdrew from the marathon. Finally, he had an MRI done. The results from the MRI showed that there
was something impinging on his spinal chord.
Then, he had an x-ray done. The
x-ray showed that the titanium plate between C6-C7 had fractured and that the
screws holding that portion in had also broken.
The top portion of the plate was resting on the broken screws of the
bottom portion of the plate. If Mark had
run the marathon with this injury, he may not be here today. Thus, the groin injury was a blessing, and
most assuredly saved him from any type of permanent paralysis.
Mark decided to
call one of the lead neurosurgeons in the country and have him review his
x-rays/MRI. Because of the complicating
nature of his neck/plate/screws, we opted to head out to Duke University and
have that surgeon repair his neck.
Before the doctor would operate, he had Mark get one more test, a CT
myelogram. The results from that test
showed that not only the plate was broken and screws were fractured, but the
screws had acted like a file and nearly completely eroded away the C6 and C7
vertebral bodies. What does that
mean? He had a hole where there should
have been bone. The doctor told him that
he was less than a millimeter away from being a “Christopher Reeve.”
Consequently,
off to surgery he went. The doctor opened
him up on the front side, placing a bone graft and re-fusing and repairing—and,
they had to fuse him all the way to T1.
Thus, he is fused from C3-T1 on the front. After finishing that, they rolled him over
and put rods in the back of his neck for extra support—fusing him from
C5-T1. His neck’s range of motion had
now been greatly compromised. They also
told him that he would never run again.
This was quite the blow to Mark.
However, at his
6-month post-surgery mark, he asked the surgeon, “Can I start running
again?” The response was not a
resounding “NO!,” but a “well…you really shouldn’t.” And, in the brain of Mark, that was his
ticket to begin running again. When he
began running again, he didn’t go long distances. And, every time he did run, p.a.i.n!
On December 11,
2011, the unthinkable happened. Our
youngest son, Zach passed away. For
Mark, running became a way to cope with Zach’s death. Running became a way of life. Running has become one of his passions.
Mark told me he
wanted to run the St. George Marathon this year. Being the mean wife, I told him “no!” I had
too many fears, especially from what happened last time he was training for a
marathon. Being the obedient husband, he
did not sign up for the marathon, but he kept on running. Mark then informed me that he WAS going to
run the Snow Canyon ½ Marathon. He kept
telling me, “I can do this!” “I will be alright!” What could I say? Thus, he registered, and for the first time since
Zach’s passing he was truly excited about something.
This past
Saturday, I dropped him off at 6:30 a.m., at Snow Canyon High School, where he
was bussed to the starting point. The
race commenced at 8:30, and he told us to come back at around 9:30 to see him
finish, as his goal was to finish in under 90 minutes. Rachel, Richard, and I arrived at about 9:45
and feared we had missed him finish.
BUT…we did not! We were standing
by the finish line when Rachel said, “there he is!” We got our cameras out and started yelling
for him. As I watched him run toward the
finish line, I could not seem to contain my tears. The flood of emotions simply overcame
me. Emotions of gratitude, of love, of
joy, of conquering trials were all coupled with the thought of Zach cheering
his father on to cross that finish line.
Even today, I can picture Zach with a smile spread from ear to ear. For me, that is a sweet and tender thought.
Nevertheless,
this was Mark’s triumph. His training
and perseverance beat the odds. His
commitment to seeing his goal through to the end taught each of us that day. He finished with a time of 87:38, placed 83rd
overall out of over 1900 runners, with a pace of 6:41 per mile, and received a
3rd place trophy for his age group.
Have the past
five years been easy? No. But to see Mark finish that race and to be a
part of that day, I would say that that was one of my life’s greatest
moments.
This is his x-ray of his broken plate...you just needed to see what I was talking about!
Mark kicking it in the last leg of the race
Yes, he was pretty happy about his accomplishment--as he should be :)
He was soaking wet with sweat, but I hugged him anyway <3
Trophy for 3rd place in his age group... GO MARK!
Live Like You Believe... We all should <3
