About us

     

JANE                                        TAVIS

Jane: I was diagnosed with Relapse Remitting Multiple Sclerosis in September, 2001. I was 28-years-old and had a one-year-old daughter.

When I was diagnosed I had lost the feeling in my right arm and hand, and had a shocking, tingling sensation shoot down my spine when I bent my chin to my chest. Over the last 13-years I’ve experienced fatigue; loss of color vision and partial blindness; bowel and bladder incontinence; numbness and tingling all over my skin; tightness around my chest; loss of balance; weakness and spasticity in my legs, especially the left one; drop-foot in my left foot; and cognitive/emotional problems including memory loss and depression.

I have treated my diagnosis primarily with alternative medicine in the form of traditional Tibetan medicine. Tibetan medicine treats the whole body through herbs, diet and yoga. The diet was tailored for me and changed over time according to what my body required. However, there were times I tried western medicine. I did Avonex for six months, Copaxone for three months and Aubagio for three weeks. In every instance I ended up with every listed side-effect. I have also done intravenous steroids four times over the years, specifically to help with episodes of optic neuritis which they are proven to aid, and indeed did.

The last two years have been especially hard on my body. I suffered two miscarriages, one at five months and the second almost a year later at three months. This has resulted in my walking declining due to weakness, stiffness and spasticity in my legs and a numb left hip. I can walk about 200 meters slowly and awkwardly. My left leg drags. They are better in the morning, but by the middle of the afternoon and evening it is very hard for me to walk any distance at all. The assistance of a cane does not help very much because it is stiffness and spasticity rather than lack of balance I deal with.

Up until two years ago, I was doing and teaching yoga regularly and had a good practice. It was never amazing due to my physical limitations such as fatigue, loss of balance and numbness, but was consistent and strong. However, losing the babies took a huge toll on my body and as a result my yoga practice decreased to the extent that I can barely practice at all due to a lack of stamina, weakness and spasticity.

My fiance has fallen in love with CrossFit over the last year and has experienced brilliant results for himself. He and his coach, Mike Ward have come up with a plan for me to try and get me moving and strong again. We will use this blog as our space to share with you what happens so you can follow along and hopefully see for yourself how CrossFit will transform my life.

Love

Jane

Tavis: I have always been pretty active but over the past few years I started getting into being more health conscious, doing Bikram Yoga, running marathons and adventure races but was always looking for something that would challenge me a little more. Last year my friend Brian Pachtman, owner and coach of Ruya Crossfit, posted an article about his gym and the benefits of CrossFit which sparked my interest.

I’m A CrossFit Newby: My Thoughts So Far

http://ruyacrossfit.com/

As soon as I finished reading it I googled CrossFit in my area, and after trying a few gyms, I made CrossFit 38 Degrees North, run by Mike Ward, my home. Mike’s energy, passion and customer service skills were completely on point. I was excited to get in there and become part of the community. http://www.crossfit38degreesnorth.com

I have been doing CrossFit for over a year and have seen amazing benefits. When I first started going I could barely do 5 pullups. After a few months of CrossFit I was able to 20 like I did over 20-years-ago when I was in the Marine Corps. I never thought I would get into group workouts, but that changed when I started CrossFit. I was amazed at how much more I pushed myself when working out with other people who encouraged and motivated me.  CrossFit also ties in the military by honoring fallen soldiers, naming work outs after them. With my Marine background, working as a team leader in 2nd Reconnaissance Bn. this deeply appealed to me.

However, while I grew stronger and stronger, I watched my fiance, Jane, get weaker and weaker and her health decline quickly. Jane has had Multiple Sclerosis for 13 years and the past two years have been difficult due to other health complications. The result is that she has trouble walking and a host of other debilitating symptoms. A few weeks ago when I was goofing around, walking on my hands, Jane broke down in tears and said “I hate this. No one understands, I can barely get around on my own two feet and you’re walking around on your hands. It doesn’t seem, fair.”

It hit me pretty hard and I couldn’t just sit by and watch her be so upset and give up. I thought that there is no reason why she couldn’t do some of the CrossFit work outs, so I researched CrossFit and MS, and discovered there are others with MS doing CrossFit, who are experiencing great improvements. I found a blog by Lisa Nielsen Nunley and reached out to her. She was very supportive and gave me some great advice – the biggest point being not push Jane too hard, but to see if she likes it and be open if it’s not for her.

http://www.lisacrossfit.com/1/post/2013/10/from-crippled-to-crossfit.html

So I gently brought up the idea to Jane, I told her I had found others with MS that were doing CrossFit and seeing great results. Of course I guessed her immediate reaction might be that I am trying to change her into some kind of muscle women but I reassured her that was not my intention, that I just wanted to get her stronger physically because there is the potential for so many benefits. I showed Jane the blog from Lisa and Jane was blown away. Lisa had been diagnosed with MS around the same time Jane had been, is a few years older and from the help of CrossFit workouts, in amazing shape. Finding Lisa’s blog was the extra push I needed to convince Jane to give this a shot. Lisa inspired Jane and gave her hope.

So what now, Jane will give it a shot but I have no idea where do start? I could not, however, find any exercise plans or workouts tailored for MS, so I contacted my coach, Mike Ward and asked him if he would be interested in helping me put together a training plan for Jane. He was thrilled at the idea and together we have created a plan.

This blog is an account of Jane’s journey with CrossFit from the start. We hope that through this blog it helps others that suffer from disabilities to not give up, to take hold of your life. I was frustrated by not finding some sort of progression for her to work out with, something that showed me how to start all of this the easiest way possible.  So here you have it, a progression that we are creating from day to day, week to week, in real time. Hopefully this will give others that are in the same situation, but do not know exactly what to do some tools that might help you get things going. If you  or someone you know has any questions, needs any help, please reach out and let us know. CrossFit is an amazing community of people that love to help others and are part of it!

Tavis

http://www.multiplesclerosisandcrossfit.com is an independent blog with no affiliation with CrossFit, Inc or endorsed by CrossFit, Inc or any of its subsidiaries. The views and opinions expressed in www.multiplesclerosisandcrossfit.com are not those of CrossFit, Inc or its founders. CrossFit is a registered trademark of CrossFit, Inc. The purpose of this blog is to help others gain knowledge and inspiration from this journey. We are not a commercial business and have no intention for monetary gain or profit from the use of the word CrossFit.