A Warrior's Guide to Battling Illness

Medical science has long known the relationship of a person’s mental state to their speed of recovery from a major surgery or a serious illness. A positive attitude about a chronic illness can lessen the severity and duration of a period in which your illness is active. I had not thought much about this until a visit with my rheumatologist, Dr. Hayes. Dr. Hayes has been my doctor and friend for over twenty-five years. During an office visit, Dr. Hayes had complemented me on how well I had handled my battle with Lupus, a battle that has lasted for over a quarter of a century. I thanked him and tried to make light of it. He confided that he had patients that were never able to come to terms with their illness.

Since the radio in my truck had been stolen, I spent the hour’s journey back home in quiet contemplation about what he had said. What was there that allowed me to accept my situation in life where others could not? By the time I pulled up in front of the house I had come to two major conclusions. One, I had a lot of practice at being sick and two, my training in the martial arts had allowed me to develop a warrior’s spirit.

If you practice at something long enough you can get good at about anything. Sometimes practice comes from determination. Learning how to play an instrument, dancing or even learning a martial art are things that we can get good at by practicing. Sometimes practice comes out of the need to grow or survive. Learning to walk, how to feed ourselves or dealing with a chronic illness are a few examples.

Being born with a congenital heart defect, being sick was a way of life for me. I really did not know any other way to live. I had been born with a hole in the wall between the lower chambers of my heart. In the early fifties the prognosis for this particular heart defect was less than encouraging. The doctors told my parents that there was little or no chance of my surviving past my fifth birthday.

Doctors however are not gods and their predictions of my demise did not take into account the love of my parents, the support of family and friends, and advances in medical technology. All of which played an important role in my surviving until the age of six. Even today it is the support of my wife, children and family, and a team of doctors who treat me for Lupus and the resulting kidney disease, that have helped me to survive and bring me to the point in life where I can share with you what is in this book.

As a child the love of my parents manifested itself in many ways. What I remember most is that they did not dwell on the fact that I was sick. Not in front of me anyway. They allowed me to play and have fun like most other children. They knew that it would be my illness that would set my boundaries. By allowing me to live without too much interference I learned naturally how to accept and deal with the limitations. In fact I did not realize just how sick I was until entering kindergarten. In school I was treated different. At recess and gym I was not allowed to participate in many of the physical activities. Instead, I was sent to the nurses’ station to rest. If I happened to fall asleep, I would be allowed to remain asleep and not have to return to class.

By the time my sixth birthday arrived there had been some amazing advances in the surgical procedures in dealing with my heart condition. One important device was a machine that had been adapted for children that took the place of the heart and aided the patient in breathing. To explain it to a child it was simply called the heart and lung machine. With this machine they were able to remove my heart from my body, open up the heart and repair the hole with a specialized patch. The operation was successful beyond any expectation and I was on my way to leading a normal life.

My life was normal. I grew up, fell in love and married a wonderful woman. Just how wonderful I did not know until later in our marriage. I began a career working in the food service industry. We had two beautiful children. My life was good and remained that way until I reached the age of thirty. I had been working for Kentucky Fried Chicken as an assistant manager, held a part time position as a weekend D.J. for the local radio station and in my spare time was cleaning a dentist office to help pay for dental work. It was then that my new problems began to develop. I began to tire easily. Breathing became painful. My joints became red and swollen. I was first diagnosed with endocarditis and spent thirty days in the hospital undergoing intervenes treatments of antibiotics. Although I seemed to respond and was released, I developed symptoms again and a diagnosis of Lupus was made. I have spent the last twenty-five years dealing with all the problems associated with the disease.

Because of my health problems early in life my growth was greatly hindered. My father realized that such a slow start in life would put me at a great disadvantage. He felt I would require some specialized training if I were going to compete in this world. At the age of ten he enrolled me in the American Budo College in Denver, Colorado, where I lived at the time. There I was to fall in love with the art of Japanese GoJu Ryu. This style of martial arts combines the hard style (Go) of karate with the soft style (Ju) of Kung Fu. It was in these classes, where I would spend six and seven hours every Saturday in training that I grew to appreciate the physical, mental and philosophical attributes of the martial arts. By dedicating myself to the study of GoJu Ryu karate, I grew in strength and confidence. Though I was proficient in the physical training, it was the mental aspects that intrigued me the most. I was amazed how a person could develop one’s mind to make the body respond. I was taught that wisdom and knowledge were more powerful than brute strength. One of the most important things I learned that has helped me today in dealing with my illness is that not all enemies can be defeated but there is no enemy that can defeat your spirit.

As you can see, being born with a heart defect, battling Lupus and now kidney failure, I have had a life time of experience in dealing with illness. From that experience and my forty plus years of training in the martial arts, I have learned that the only way to survive is to battle every day. A battle fought with a warrior’s spirit. In the course that follows we will begin a journey together that will help prepare you for that battle.