Bicycling For A Cause

Dan Zimmerman on Trike

I read about Dan Zimmerman's plan to bicycle across America and it really struck me.  It wasn't that Dan was bicycling 5000+ miles, many people make the trip annually using Bike Centennial's (now the Adventure Cycling Association) established trails along backroads and highways.  It wasn't that Dan was raising money for another capital letter disease, the HHT Foundation.  It was that Dan was a stroke survivor.
Strokes are insidious in that they strike each individual differently.  They are cruel because they may take away the simple things we used to do every day, like walking, and talking, or playing guitar.  There is a stigma attached to them, that once you have a stroke that you are expected to be a drain to society and may not even be a player in your own life.  I know because I suffered a stroke in 2012.
Yes, me.  The distance bicyclist, the avid hiker and outdoorsman, and considered to be healthy by current medical standards was crippled by one of our nation's most deadly diseases.
With much help from others, I have learned to use my leg again to walk and even to backpack.  I have learned to use my hand and arm again and have begun playing guitar.  (Something I did very well for decades now had me starting at the beginning.)  I recovered by walking with my wife daily using a cane on paved trails and by going to endless physical therapy sessions with hands-on care from excellent, helpful professionals.  I proved I could drive a car in Interstate traffic and that I still thought "normally" through passing many tests.
Unlike Dan, I experienced the most-common type of a Lacunar Stroke, where I primarily lost motor skills. In my recovery, I fell while bicycling, breaking my hip which in many ways has been as bad as the stroke. Today, you may not notice that I ever had a stroke.
In my blogs and on my Facebook page Lite Packer Lifestyle, I will follow Dan's journey as he bicycles across America and will ask you to help him raise money for HHT and for his trip.  Lets all give a little so this man can continue to talk publicly about stroke and be a beacon for stroke survivors.  Let's also give thanks to those caring medical and therapy professionals, who struggle with us daily, never really knowing how, or if, we will succeed.
And yes, I have learned from the stroke.  I have learned about the triumph of the human spirit, overcoming adversity and the wisdom of simplifying my life.
And that is why this coming November, I will bicycle with Dan during his ride for a day when he passes through Central Florida on the final leg of his trip across America.  For me it will be a celebration that there is life after a stroke, that it is OK to talk about it, and to own it just like all those other accomplishments in our lives.  Thank you, Dan.  I just hope I can keep up!