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NF and the Olympics

tresham
  • By tresham
  • Posted August 23, 2008 at 5:55 pm · 12 replies
  • In Off-Topic
  • Shared with the public
0 Recommendations

Just for fun...
With at least 10,000 athletes competing in the olympic games you'd thing the odds of perhaps 1 having NF would be up there.
My husband says no...and gave me his maths explanation for it...and also added that as most folks with NF have all kinds of coordination problems, muscle tone problems...blah blah he didn't think there would be one. (He's not being unkind)
So if there is no athlete out there, perhaps there is an athelete out there with a loved one who is affected by NF.
What do others think....?

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Asthma

12 replies

DrNiblik

I have already been gently admonished for my language on the board by one of our moderators, but you ought to tell your husband to take his figures and well..., you know the rest. I know he wasn't trying to be a jerk or unkind or anything, but I think he might be a bit misguided. For crying out loud Julia! YOU have NF and have run in effety effing marathons for goodness sake! Yes, one of we Nfers could be in the Olympics! In diving? Probably not. In gymnastics? Certainly not. Nothing that takes a great deal of coordination, but we can certainly run, jump, swim, or boat as well as anyone out there! LORD ALMIGHTY!! do I ever get sick of being told what we can't do! I adore you Julia, and you are one of my favourites, but I think dear Hubby is dead wrong on this one.

carol_slone

I agree, i think he is wrong to. My son dosent know much about nf( he is only 8) It dosent slow him down in the least. I have a hard time keeping up with him sometimes. nf is a problem and i dont think it should keep anyone from trying anything who knows what you can do, if you try.

tresham

Thanks Ian! I actually hadn't thought about me running all those marathons... :-) One of my sayings a while back ...comes from a song of a country music singer is *don't let the fear of the unknown be a reason not to try* Sounds like your son lives up to that CS
Ralph is actuall quite proud of my marathons and is one of my biggest supporters, I guess he just wasn't really thinking about other ways NFers could be in the olympics.
I was just thinking if there was an NFer out there competing how great it would to know about him/her.

Alpacha-pal

I don't do a lot now, however in high school I was a State Champion Swimmer. Those of us with coordination problems just have to find the right sport to try. Swimming has been a God Send to me in very many ways. Because of it I became a life guard, then as an adult I became an instructor for theYMCA, from there I moved up the ranks and became Senior Program director. My proudest achivment was becominf a National Instructor Trainer for Special Populations. This ranged from teaching the blind to people with MS and everything in between. I got to learn first hand what people are capable of no matter what there affliction.
My children whom both have NF also excelled in the water. This skill has brought all of us the confidence to accel in what ever we haave choosen to do.
Bottm line is where ther is a will there is a way!!
I understand why your husband feels the way he does, its hard to understand what it is like unless you experience it first hand.
FYI the USA's pride and joy 8 gold metal winner is learning disabled.
GO TEAM!

starlitesonata

I also excelled in the water. and was asked to be on the swim team at the local ywca. also in college. water is my favorite sport. I was also on the winter ski team in high school also in college.

seesnow

Tell us how you really feel Dr!;) You're a funny guy! I agree with you. There certainly should be at least a couple of folks with NF in the Olympics! ....and I too admire Julia! I would so hurt myself if I tried to run a marathon!

tresham

I also swam in all the school meets, and on a Saturday morning at the school baths. That was at the beach, and it always gave me the heebie jeebies. :-) I remember, I'd dive in....and just go for it...hoping a shark wouldn't come up from the depths. Of course one never did there was an underwater net but I often wondered if there was a hole a baby shark could swim thru' and then live on our side....:-)
Loved swimming, then running, and now I cycle.

Blaster

Hmmm...
I did not watch much of the "Bru-Ha-Ha",
Perhaps a total of 2 hours??
But I believe I caught a glimpse of what could be a CAL on one of the athletes.
A 2+ inch spot located on the upper & inner posterior left thigh.
I believe it was one of the divers (a female).
I do not recall what Country she represented.

Don't get the wrong idea here...
I Was Not "ogling the eye candy" ;-}

Peruser

I think it's certainly plausible for some of the olympic athletes to have NF.

Comparing the frequency of NF in "olympic athletes" to that of the general population may be a more relevant topic - but to what end? We already have information on what NF can do to our bodies.

Do we than have interest in how many policeman have NF? Certainly, you won't find many in the military - been there tried that - was debarred from enlisting because of NF.

I have to step back and simply say, that from my perspective, having NF1 is simply another challenge in (my) life, and in the lives of those of us who have it.

I don't mean to be in any way confrontational, or get into any kind of heated discussion on this, but merely to add my $0.02 to the discussion. When I was younger, I was curious about what successful people in the world have NF, then I sort of put that aside and focused on being as successful as I could be. I can even remember my mother suggesting I could help search for a cure - she always looked for the silver lining - regardless of the challenge. She and I heard there was not cure, so for her the next logical step was to find one. We'll I didn't go into biomedical research, but I do work to impact / improve the environment .

Back to olympic athletes . .
I think if you google terms like: overcame, disease, illness, olymipc atheletes, etc., you'll find examples of athletes who overcame what some might think of as considerable challenges to make it to the olympics, and even medal. You'll find names like Wilma Rudolph, who I believe was stricken with polio in her younger years, but overcame. .
I can't at the moment remember the name of the American swimmer of a few olympics back who suffered from asthma to such a degree that he was described by commentators as only having 30% lung capacity. I remember distinctly that being said. 30%!!! my gawd, could anyone predict that anybody with 30% lung capacity could be an olympic swimmer, much less a gold medalist??? Yet it happened- I suppose that perhaps his 30% may have been volumetrically comparable to an average persons 100%.
Anyway, as I said, and I'll say again - having NF1 is just another challenge in life that I must attempt to overcome as long as I can.

Thanks for listening. . .
Peruser

narngirl

You talk about successful people in the world with NF. I know of one who's brother has it and she has been out spoken about it. Gillian Anderson of the X files. I read an article on her many many years back where she was talking about her brother and the problems he has associated with his NF.

DrNiblik

My cousin is badly disfigured by NF and has had many struggles. He has a large plexifor that covers the whole of his right eye, and the same 1000s of smaller bumps most of us do. That said, he is a very successful Nueclear Phrmacist. My Uncle is afflicted and is on the City Council for Ithica, NY. I am currently persuing my Master's in Library Science and am also running for city council. I too was rejected from military service due to NF many years ago, but have just had to find a different path in life. So...., can people with NF have successful lives? I would have to say unequivocally YES!

TaniaJ

Your husband could be wrong.

My 17 year old daughter has a very, very, mild case of NF and the world expert Prof. Kathryn North described it yesterday, as almost like a skin condition only.

There was never any evidence of learning disabilities, coordination problems and she was always in the highest extension classes at school.

So maybe there is someone in the olympics and amongst the athletes, but maybe they also dont know they have the condition.

Rgeards

Tania

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