‘Fibromyalgia is not going to stop me!’
By Ann Thayre
I won’t bore you with my journey to diagnosis as we have all been there. Like most people I was pleased to have a name for what was wrong and know I wasn’t imagining it. My spare time activities were scuba diving which I lived for, swimming, cycling and walking. So it was quite a shock to get in the pool one day and find that I struggled to swim if you could call it that, one width of the small community pool was all I could manage. However I struggled to keep going and one week I was feeling very low when I saw a sign for the 2008 Swimathon in aid of the Marie Curie. It was the inspiration I needed and I signed up for the Simple Swim which meant that I could do as much as I wanted in whatever time it took. Well anything over a width of the pool would have been great!
Approaching people for sponsorship was tiring as I had to explain what Fibromyalgia is but I have to say everyone was very encouraging and not one person refused. The first divers who signed the form persuaded me to set a proper target so I set it at 50 lengths of Wadurs swimming pool which equates to 1250m – yes it was extreme especially as I could only do what amounted to a dog trying to learn to doggie paddle!!! The lifeguards were very encouraging and kept me going when I wanted to give up. My GP was amazed but I think I was amazed at myself. It took me a few weeks to complete but I DID IT and it has kept me going ever since. I even managed to do a few strokes front crawl last week.
The great thing about it is that if I had not developed FMS I probably would not have done the sponsored swim as I was always too busy doing other things. So something good has come out of it.
On another positive note I have also taken up knitting again to help exercise the muscles in my arms. I am knitting scarves and other small items in the hope of selling them to raise some money for the support group. You may even find you win one in the raffle at the Worthing meeting.
And it does not stop here as my next sponsorship event that I am planning will be a bike ride late September or October. I have managed to cycle a couple of miles and the distance is increasing slowly – on calm weather days! I traded my old heavy bike in for a newer lighter model and it really helps to keep me moving.
So as the title of this article says ‘Fibromyalgia is not going to stop me’ and I am determined to turn it into something positive – ‘Life Changing’ is very true.
Ann Thayre
Shoreham by Sea
Well done Ann. Keep up the good work.
 
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