From the end of the world to the end of the Wall
David Elliott
Open Door - May 2008 pages 14-15
Simatai hill on the Great Wall of China
My story is all too familiar. Six years ago I was happily married with one little girl and another baby due any day.
Then on the 1 August 2001 my world as I knew it ended - I was diagnosed with something called MS. Being a typical male I did not have a clue on anything to do with medical matters and up to that day my only illness would be a hangover on a Saturday morning. After the initial shock both to me and my family came the belief that I wouldn't be able to walk, talk or even be able to control my bladder in six months.
My life had ended, or so I believed.
Now five years, ten months and sixteen days later I have just completed the hardest day of a ten day trek along parts of the Great Wall of China. The trek started seven days ago when I met up with 45 other strangers at Heathrow airport. The ages of the trekkers ranged from a twenty year old student walking for a children's charity through to a seventy five year old gentleman walking in aid of the Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital. 21 of us were walking in aid of the MS Trust.
The day in question started for me at 6.30am with a cold shower followed by breakfast at 7. Our main bags had to be loaded on to the support vehicle by 7.30am. At 8.00am we started four hours of walking up and down parts of un-kept walls with one hundred foot vertical drops either side. Lunch consisted of a hard boiled egg and steamed bread (yum yum) and after lunch we descended into a valley and walked across a rope bridge that was suspended 200 feet above a lake.
The walk was over for the day, however a few of us had decided that we might walk up an infamous hill called Simatai. Hill is something of an understatement - mountain would be correct!!! This section of the wall ascends steep steps for approximately 2500 metres. At certain sections the steps were about a foot high and the temperature that afternoon was in the mid thirties. What a great idea it was! We had anticipated that the walk up would take about two hours, but it was more like three.
After about an hour my body decided that this part of the wall was my own personal race, and a race that I was going to win. Subconsciously my six years of living with MS forced me to turn into a machine that pushed me harder than I had ever thought possible.
The MS Trust group on the Great Wall of China
I must take this opportunity to apologise to my fellow trekkers and new friends Chris, Emma, Claire and Louise and thank them for their understanding. When I started to pull away from them they must have realised that I had gone completely off my head and there was no stopping me. As I left them behind I felt myself going faster and faster, unable to stop at the lookout towers to catch my breath.
Finally I reached the end of the path and could not go any further, a winner - not over the guys but over the MS that had nearly sent me mad with anxiety and depression. For six years MS had ruled my life and now finally I had decided that I had won the psychological battle. I may still have MS but MS does not have me!!
I am very fortunate not to suffer from any major symptoms with my MS at present, fatigue could be considered my only symptom. My only disability was the thought that this was it for me and I had no future. There I was in the middle of China, on top of the world and the four fittest people I know ten minutes behind me.
The trek was over far too soon. Reflecting on the trip and looking at the hundreds of photos and the correspondence from my fellow trekkers, I see that the trek was of benefit to every individual who took part regardless of the thousands of pounds raised for a variety of charities. The trip was not only a physical challenge but also a mental challenge helping us all to overcome fears and issues that we may or may not have known about.
What's next for me? Well, surprise, surprise, I have a new symptom!! This time it's trekking/hiking and walking. The six years of worrying about going to bed and praying I would be able to walk tomorrow have been replaced with me complaining that I have been stuck in the office or car all day and I haven't walked today.
David has since writing this article signed up to run the London Marathon 2011 for the MS Trust and we wish him all the best of Luck!
- Overseas challenges
- The China Trek is just one of a range of overseas challenges that allow people to do something extraordinary whilst raising funds for the MS Trust. For more information on treks and challenges, see the Fundraising pages or email the Fundraising Team
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Open Door articles are reproduced as published. They are not updated to take account of subsequent developments. Use appropriate caution in acting on the information in any article.