'You can do it': An MS patient's journey to the P.E.I. Marathon
'I thought about it for a few days and I thought "yeah I could do that"'
Blake Hurdis wanted to do something "that nobody would expect an MS patient to do."
The 36-year-old will be one of the many participants in the 15th annual P.E.I. Marathon this fall — despite the fact a year ago he couldn't even walk.
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Hurdis, who lives in Smith Falls, Ont., had a multiple sclerosis attack in February 2017, and it started off as other attacks had been for him, he said, with "numbness and tingling."
At one time he was used to at least three to four attacks a year, but this particular attack was different than the others.
"It quickly progressed to having cerebral spasms, which is just a really nice way of saying your brain is having a seizure," he said.
"It sort of shut my body down. I couldn't walk, I couldn't even crawl. Being on my knees for me was too high. I would have to pull myself around my house on my hands and just try to make do."
Needed a bone marrow transplant
Hurdis, who is originally from the U.S., was first diagnosed with MS in 2007, he said. His symptoms began to show while he was deployed to Iraq with the U.S. military.
He endured several hard years, with doctors trying to figure out how his particular MS worked, he said.
For a while his body began to settle and he felt better, but one day, unexpectedly, it came back worse than ever.
After the attack in February last year, he was put on chemotherapy to keep his immune system suppressed, he said, and eventually needed a bone marrow transplant.
That procedure took place in November 2017 and what followed was a long road to recovery.
Road to recovery and the P.E.I. Marathon
Though he'd been active and fit most of his life, recovering from the transplant was no easy feat at all.
With the procedure done, the following months of recovery were very slow, and trying physically, mentally and emotionally, he said.
"There's a few months at the very beginning of recovery that are incredibly tough," he said.
"Once you start to heal, once you start to recover, it's slow but there are opportunities for you to push yourself. Maybe not everyday, because you're very tired, but you can start to push yourself to be better."
I wanted to show that you can do it. That it is possible.— Blake Hurdis
He began to push himself more, walking, running and building up stamina. After some time a friend asked him to run in the P.E.I. Marathon.
"I thought about it for a few days and I thought 'yeah I could do that,'" he said.
He plans to be running in the P.E.I. Marathon on his 37th birthday — October 14th.
"I wanted to do something that nobody would expect an MS patient to do," he said. "I wanted to show that you can do it. That it is possible."