Going the Distance: Never Tell Me the Odds

The deck was stacked against me since I contracted polio at the age of 5 years old. Dropping to the ground with no warning in Kindergarten class on June 3, 1959 began the challenges I would have to face throughout my life. Three years later my father became alcoholic and 9 years of emotional, physical, sexual and spiritual assaults followed until his suicide when I was 17 years old. Ten years ago I was diagnosed with Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine Standards.

My life in many ways has been like an adventure movie. I have battled evil, fought for my life, and take on incredible challenges like running the 2009 Boston Marathon against all odds shortly after coming out of a wheelchair and a leg brace and having been told that I would spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair, or training for a threepeat of the Bermuda Half Marathon.

Every time that somebody told me I shouldn't or couldn't do something, I turned around and said, "Watch me now."

I'll be turning 64 years old on Christmas Day. As I realize that I've lived more of my life than I have yet to live, it's a wonderful time to take a look back at the incredible tapestry of my life.

The odds of becoming high school valedictorian after having contracted paralytic polio and fighting for my life every night were quite slim. The odds of being honored by Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit Honor Society at Boston College after needing 4 years to complete my MSW having suffered a 6 week hospital stay and having nearly lost the use of my right arm due to a misdiagnosed staph infection were quite slim. I was told I wouldn't/shouldn't/couldn't run again after a serious knee injury in December of 2014 yet here I am now training 5 days a week for a threepeat of the 2018 Bermuda Marathon Weekend. It takes dedication, hard work, perseverance, fierce determination to beat the odds. At times, it's a messy and uncertain journey that requires trusting The Force with all of my heart and soul.



And speaking of that pesky knee injury in December of 2014 ... I was told that my MRI indicated, among many other things, an atrophied gastroc muscle. "That's been atrophied since you had the polio," a doctor declared with great certainty. In a cavalier tone and gesture he went on to say, "You'll never get that back."

Never tell me the odds especially when blessed to find my way to a most remarkable chiropractor, Dr. Ryan J. Means who in an equal cavalier manner told me to set goals not limits. We decided that together we would grow a new gastroc muscle. With faith, KT tape,


visualization and gastroc strengthening exercises, we have indeed grown a new gastroc muscle!

Obstacles are a part of life. Battling the odds so that, much like in a Star Wars or Indiana Jones, integrity, goodness and The Force prevail is all a part of life's journey. At times in my life the odds were against me but I look beyond circumstances and the odds. So please never tell me the odds because I'll tell you this...I have and will continue to triumphantly beat them at every turn!

Go the distance with strength and courage!
~Mary

Be sure to visit my website by following this link.

My books are available on Amazon.

Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life


Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:


And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):