Never lose the hope :)

Hi all, one of the reasons which drove me to open this blog, upon suggestion of some dear friends, is to share my personal experience because I strongly believe it can be of some help for other people.

When I was a child, I had a very bad car accident. It was on Good Friday of 1981 (I can still remember that because after about 7 or 8 years I had another accident on Good Thursday. It was a coincidence, but you can imagine how I feel now every time we are in the Easter week).

I was too young to remember the details of the accident, but I survived from the coma and the medical doctors said it was miracle because I was supposed to stay in a wheelchair and instead, I was able to recover almost completely.

I spent part of my childhood suffering because I was not able to do things as the other children and I had to go for several years to do physiotherapy in a center specialized for children with handicaps. I learned how to walk without limping after my 30s and also now, although I walk much better, I limp when I am tired. My right part of the body has strong atrophy, and I cannot do simple things with my right part.

But you saw the picture of me riding the bike :) The 2018 has been a miraculous year for me from the point of view of the sport! In October 2017 I heard about the MS150 Houston to Austin (a 2-days bike ride of 260 km held on the end of April 2018) for raising funding for the multiple sclerosis and I immediately decided to participate to that. I started at the beginning of 2018 to use again the bike after several years of inactivity. I was a bit scared but after a short period of uncertainty I trained by riding every day before and after work and during the weekend. To be sure to be able to manage a so long distance in a short time I participated to the sprint triathlon and to a bike ride of 50 km organized by the campus. At the end, I went to US, and I completed the ride. I am still giving support the research on multiple sclerosis every time I have the chance because I really hope they can find a solution to help people to live a better life.

After that, I continued to walk and cycling a lot, many times with the scope of helping other, and I noticed very huge improvements in my right part of the body. Although the right part is still very weak, I can now open a door with the right arm without thinking and that is a huge achievement for me :)

Also the last 2 years have been very good from the point of view of the sport. First, I participated to a challenge to collect kilometers for charity purposes and then, to a 3-months Sport Challenge organized by the Company. At end, in 12 weeks I walked 1743 km and cycled for 837 km. I won a prize as best female walkers and I am extremely happy because I can give the prize as donations for some kids :) And finally, at the beginning of last September I participated to a run of 4 km for charity purposes.

So, at the end of this story I simply want to encourage you to never lose the hope. It is true that I have been extremely lucky because I had the chance to participate to sport activities to help other people less lucky than me. But still at the age of 44-year-old my body is in continuous improvement. The motivation of being helpful for others is a very strong driving force which help me to overcome to the difficulties and to see again the rainbow in a dark time. I know there are much more complicated cases, but the research is doing progresses every single day and so, staying positive can be beneficial for both the mind and the body.