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Editorial: Imagination is a reality

Scott Wagar

08/07/2012

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Pablo Picasso once said, “Everything you can image is real.” 

During this year’s Summer Olympics in London there a number of athletes who have inspiring stories who imagined once in their life that they wanted to be Olympic athletes, and made it a reality.

There is South African Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee below his knees who is a competitive runner; Serge Ibaka who is basketball player on Spain’s national team, but started his life in the war torn country of Congo and lived through the death of his mother and his father being imprisoned; U.S. hurdler Lolo Jones who grew up in such poverty she had to steal TV dinners to feed herself and her siblings; and, Carrie Johnson, a U.S. kayaker who has one of the most debilitating disease known to mankind, Crohn’s Disease, which is a severe gastrointestinal disease.  

Most people don’t really think twice when they hear that someone has Crohn’s disease, but for an individual who has this inflammatory bowel disease it is literally one of the worst diseases you can have in life. Those with Crohn’s disease suffer excruciating abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting, along with severe arthritis (primarily in the joints), tiredness, skin rashes (which include ulcerating nodules), inflammation to the eyes, the inability to concentrate, etc… etc… the list goes on and on.

Worse, there isn’t a cure for Crohn’s Disease, and medical researchers really do not have a clue what causes this horrible illness. Crohn’s Disease can be managed by diet, medication, exercise, rest and in the worst cases, surgery. But, the disease is so unpredictable that managing it is almost impossible at times. In simple terms – Crohn’s is a guessing game when managing it because something works one day, but changes the next.

So, for Carrie Johnson to be competing in the Olympics is an incredible feat for her, and a true call out for those who want to imagine and make their dreams a reality.

For Johnson, in her training, she has had to alter the way she trains. To stay in shape, most athletes run, but for Johnson, running irritates her digestive system, causing her to have medical problems. To resolve this problem, she rides a bike instead, which doesn’t cause her to have the health issues she has with running.

Johnson also cannot go full throttle in her workouts because it affects her Crohn’s Disease. Instead, she places intense focus of specific aspects of her workouts to stay in shape and in training with her sport. She also alternates exercising her mind and body by resting her body, while strengthening her mind and vice-versa.

For someone with Crohn’s, any daily activity can be painful, sickening and tiresome for them. It isn’t an illness that really comes and goes, and one with the disease has no idea when it is going to kick into high gear and make her ill. They deal the best they can. So, one can understand why Carrie Johnson is a person who has one of the most incredible stories at this year’s Olympics.

Harry Golden once said, “The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.”

Truly the Olympian Carrie Johnson is a person that has overcome adversity through hard work with an imagination and strength within her to take her dreams into the realm of reality.

Healthy Olympians and people alike can learn great lessons from such an extraordinary person like Carrie Johnson.