Sean Wingrave

Sean Wingrave: I was diagnosed in 2007, with my last major attack hitting me on Nov. 11, 2006.

SW: I think the biggest advice I could give a fellow MSer is that if you walk one block today, walk two the next time. Each time you get out make the effort to make a small improvement on the last time.

Don’t be discouraged. It doesn’t matter how far you went, what matters is that you got out and tried. Eventually you will get stronger, and you will get more confident. That is what happened to me. I went from thinking my life was over at 30 years old to running my first half marathon before my 32nd birthday. MS or not, you can do anything you want, but you have to will yourself to do it.

SW: I’m a true Canadian male, so of course ice hockey is my favorite sport. I still play a little and participate yearly in one of the larger pond hockey tournaments in Canada.

I’m also an avid cyclist and participate in the Leduc, AB to Canmore, AB (just over 180kms) MS Bike Tour every year in support of the Canadian MS Society. I also ‘free ride’ mountain bike, which is downhill mountain biking done via chair lift or gondola. My favorite spot is the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in Golden British Columbia.

As far as future goals, I would like my family life to settle out so that I can participate in at least two half marathons per year and eventually start running in full marathons.

SW: I strongly believe, given the unpredictable nature of the disease and how little is known about what causes it, that the only way to truly fight it is by becoming as physically strong as possible.

I don’t believe people with MS should act like patients. They should empower themselves to take control over their own health. I don’t mean this irresponsibly and that the advice of doctors should be ignored (I take medication), but MSers need to understand that their doctors don’t know everything about the disease because, if they did, there would be a cure.

That is why I support the MS Fitness Challenge as I am certain that making your body as strong and healthy as possible is crucial in fighting the effects of MS.

SW: I think (you’d have to ask them, to be sure) they find it inspirational and, I hope, comforting. The reason I say comforting is that I hope it demonstrates that my diagnosis of MS was not a prediction of my early demise or a quick onset of handicap, but rather more of a life-changing event. This event can either be positive or negative, and it’s up to me to choose the path.

SW: I don’t consume any gluten, soy, dairy, or legumes. My nutritional strategies are similar to those made popular by Doctor Terry Wahls and Direct-Ms.org (the pages focused on nutrition). I have been following “paleo-like” nutritional strategies since months after my diagnosis, and my exact diet can be found at www.ownmultiplesclerosis.com.

SW: I’m not currently following my marathon training program, but I will start again in the spring. Right now I lift weights, stretch, and do cardio before work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings for about an hour. For example, on Monday I did the following routine:

Bench Press (175 lbs) 3 sets, 10-12 reps (60 seconds of jumping rope between each set)
Dumbbell Press (50 lbs each hand) 3 sets, 10-12 reps (60 seconds of jumping rope between each set)
Dumbbell Pull (50 lbs, one hand at a time) 3 sets, 10-12 reps (60 seconds of jumping rope between each set)
Dumbbell Squats (50 lbs each hand) 3 sets, 10-12 reps (60 seconds of jumping rope between each set)
2 X 40 sit ups

What I am doing now is more of a maintenance routine as finding time with the kids is challenging. Once our newborn is a little older and a little more settled I’ll have more time to start the marathon program again. In addition, snow (and below freezing temperatures) has arrived where I live, so finding nice days (or even reasonable ones) to run which align with the family is tough. I make as much time as I can, and my wife has been great in helping me.

SW: I hope this summer. My wife and I (who I met shortly after I ran my first half marathon), and I have two very small children, and it has substantially cut into my regular training time. However, early this past summer I was regularly running distances of 12-17 kilometers, so I think a half marathon next summer is definitely a possibility.

SW: Training for anything is difficult, so it is hard to say. The one issue I had was with my energy levels as sometimes I just didn’t feel like training. It became a mind game where I really had to push myself to train, even when I didn’t feel like it.

SW: I had to stop working for about seven months. Boredom set in, and I started walking. At the time, I was fairly out of shape. The walks progressed to short runs of about a kilometer. I noticed when my blood started pumping the symptoms (numbness) seemed to become milder. The short distances started rolling into longer ones and then I thought I should try a half marathon. I started training and made it happen. I’ve run in three since 2009.