Lynne Dow was diagnosed with MS in 1990 at the age of 45. After a bad relapse in 1996 which left the right side of her body paralysed, she reassessed her life and made just a few changes …

It was after having a bad relapse in 1996 that I changed my perspective on what I wanted out of my life. This relapse had caused the right side of my body to become paralysed. I was feeling bloody ordinary until after being treated for several weeks with methylprednisolone, and began to recover slowly.

After leaving the hospital following the relapse I was worse than when I was admitted, and found it difficult to walk due to the loss of function in the right hand side of my body, however I was determined to walk and not have to utilise any walking aids.

I felt rebellious against the attitudes of others who thought and assumed that I would end up in a wheelchair forever and give up on me. I thought, no I’m not going to do this. I could have ended up in a wheelchair and not have been able to stop this, but I was determined not to give up and to try.

After being cooped up at home for all this time I was beginning to feel somewhat claustrophobic and I just wanted to get out of the house.  My husband was worried that I was unable to drive after this attack, although I felt that I was able to, and he took away my car keys. I then decided that although I might not have been able to drive, I could still walk even though it was difficult, and set off for a walk with my dog down to the beach a mere 5km down the road. Although my car could be taken away my legs couldn’t!

I didn’t know what my future was going to hold because of the MS, and whether I was going to have another attack, or what function I would regain, so I decided that I wanted memories. If I was going to end up in a wheelchair I could say ‘remember the time when I did this’ and be able to reminisce about what I had achieved and what I had seen while I was still able to.

I thought of this as a kind of ‘insurance policy’ for myself, in that I got out there to see and do things just in case I wouldn’t be able to in the future. At least it would be a certainty that I would have memories, but not certain that my legs would work in the future. Therefore I set about actually doing some of the things I had always wanted to do in case I couldn’t later on.

At the time I was working at the University of Tasmania, and I knew one of the lecturers named Richard who happened to be the president of the local gliding club, The Soaring Club of Tasmania.

I approached him about going for a glide, which he agreed to. (On the way to Oatlands to go gliding, we had to go into town that morning to do some shopping, and I saw a huge teddy bear in Chickenfeed that was perfect for my sister’s 50th birthday. We bought it and I made David carry the bear back to the car. However, on the way the car, he kept getting stopped by young women exclaiming how cute the teddy bear was and wanting to have a cuddle!! David became so flustered he forgot where the car was parked in the car park and what floor it was on! This was a worry, as I didn’t want to be late and miss out on the gliding!)

We made it on time to the Soaring Club of Tasmania, and as we drove up we saw the gliders and how they would move along the paddock before soaring really quite high into the air. I should explain that gliders are like very small planes without engines, not hang gliders, that get into the air by being towed on a tow rope by an aeroplane, or on a winch, where the glider travels along for about 20 metres before soaring into the air at about 80 degrees.

At this point I began to get frightened. David encouraged me to not chicken out and turn back. I found Richard and we got strapped into the glider and off we went, with Richard at the controls. It was magic. I forced myself to look down once we were in the air, as I’m afraid of heights, and it was magnificent. I went gliding another time where we were towed by a plane to get in the air – this was even better than the first time, because as we glided through some wispy clouds and the colours of soft pinks and blues were truly mind boggling. 

I heard a noise, something squawking, and I looked up to see a wedge-tailed eagle flying about 2 metres above us! It was looking down at us warily – apparently they can attack gliders, which could have been quite dangerous…but never mind! Richard the pilot was more scared than I as he knew what might happen if it did attack!! This was my first adventure.

My second adventure was white water rafting at Picton River, with colleagues from work which was great fun. Even better, was black water rafting in New Zealand earlier that year – it was very challenging. I should explain for those who don’t know that white water rafting is in a raft with other people; black water rafting is in an inner tube, by yourself floating down underground. Each inner tube is connected to the next person as they loop their legs under each other’s arms to connect the next inner tube.

During this adventure, I arrived and was fitted for an inner tube and then taken to a jetty where we were told to put on the inner tube and jump backwards into the creek below! Stopped thinking about it too much otherwise I wouldn’t have jumped…so I just jumped!

We floated in the water for a while before getting out and making our way through the bush to a cave. We then put on our helmets with inbuilt light, not unlike a miner’s helmet, and started following the group through the cave. There were beautiful glowworms above us in the cave, which made it seem like we were outside in the dark with the stars above us.

Then I could hear a lot of rushing of water and thought hello what’s this – the next thing I knew we were standing on the edge of a waterfall and being told to jump backwards into the water, without being able to see the water below as it was pitch black, like a giant leap of faith. There was no way to back out as we were in a line, and the group leader had to actually push us out of the waterfall so we wouldn’t fall too close to the ledge at the bottom.

It was such a relief to bob up and be on top of the water, sitting back in my trusty inner tube and watching everybody else jump over.

After everybody had made it over the waterfall, we linked inner tubes with the person behind and in front, and turned on the red light torch on our helmet so we could still see but with minimum light. We went around the cavern, all hooked up together, where we could see the entire circumference of the cave with the glowworms above us.

Back at the bus, I was absolutely stuffed but feeling like I had been reborn, had this warm fuzzy feeling, absolutely buggered but felt really good at what I had achieved.

I was thankful that during a lot of the journey I had been so focused on my bladder that it took away some of the scariness of the exercise! Everybody else was 18-20 years old, however they were supportive and made me feel included even though I was the oldest at 50. I felt really happy about what I had done and keen to see what other adventures I could get myself into.

I go swimming and to fitball classes each week, which is not only good for exercise but for social purposes and contact.

I also regularly undertake bush walks with Adult Education and in groups with people ranging in ages from mid-20s to 75 years. I enjoy walking not just for the benefits of exercise, but discovering new places that I can go back and revisit again and again to enjoy them at a slower pace and to pursue another passion of mine – photography.

I believe that if you don’t use it, you lose it…

My next adventure may be abseiling down the Gordon Dam through Adult Ed…I’m saving for that one!