WoW

mugwump · 08-21-2006, 06:50

Wow. Make sure you watch the video at the end.

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

``He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want to do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore for two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time'? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' one doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.''

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Dick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjPrL3n63yg

CPTAUSRET · 08-21-2006, 09:02

MOVING, as Hell!

When handed a tough turn in life, some step up, some don't! This man obviously steppedd up!

That's "Voting with your feet!"

jfhiller · 08-21-2006, 10:16

THAT is a man. God bless them both.

jbour13 · 08-21-2006, 10:23

Talk about your inspiration to go do great things. This man is a testament to human will and even greater compassion for those less able to accomplish tasks we take for granted.

On a personal note: I lost a sister-in-law to ALS (Lou Gehrigs disease) a few years ago. I was stationed in Hawaii and was PCSing to the DC area. My brother and sister-in-law went from 2 incomes to 1 and my brother had no-one to take his wife to the doctor because his job was too demanding and they couldn't afford to lose work. I had to fight hard but I got 45 days of leave enroute to my next assignment. I spent that 45 days like there was no tomorrow. I helped organize a small plane flight for my sister since she had never flown. We went through her wish list of things she wanted to do before she passed.

That was July of 2002. She was walking and having a grand old time. By September of the same year she couldn't tie her shoes without difficulty and had to be helped down steps. By Thanksgiving she was almost exclusively using a wheelchair and had trouble breathing. She remained in high spirits throughout the whole term of the disease and made us all better people for not taking life for granted. She fought for a long time and didn't complain once. She was more worried about how others felt and were going to deal with her loss, than focusing attention towards herself. She hung on until February of 2004 and went when she wanted to. No tears, no worries or fears of loss, just a solemn goodbye.

To this day when I run, strap on the ruck, or make another journey on Uncle Sam's behalf, I think of people like my sister, people that never gave up hope, never gave up trying, and most importantly had compassion and were more interested in helping others before themselves. I stopped complaining of distance, I started thinking "I can still use my legs, let's see how far we can go." I don't think about pain like I used to, I push beyond it and make myself remember why I do it.

The greatest thing about this dad is he appreciates the little things and can see the benefit of giving. He gave his son life and has never stopped giving.

A true inspiration.

NSDQ · 08-21-2006, 17:10

WOW !

Gypsy · 08-21-2006, 18:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbour13

She was more worried about how others felt and were going to deal with her loss, than focusing attention towards herself.

Sorry for your loss jbour13. In my experience with those I've lost the above has always been more of the concern...

Very inspirational story about the Hoyts.

CoLawman · 08-21-2006, 22:32

Now that is a DAD!

NSDQ · 08-21-2006, 22:33

My 1st response was just raw emotion at what I had just looked at with the Hoyts. Truly insperational. I had to come home & reflect over it again, there are some other stories that are linked to the Hoyts story, that are just as inspiring.

jbour what a blessing it must be to have your sister live on thru your life. Thanks for sharing your story.

NSDQ

blustr18b · 08-21-2006, 22:35

good posts...I just lost a close friend to ALS also, and she was tough to the end...never complained.
blustr18b

brewmonkey · 08-22-2006, 20:47

The love between a father and his son is simply amazing. Simply inspirational would not be enough to describe how that story and video make you feel.

x SF med · 08-23-2006, 07:01

Amazing, the Hoyts are an inspiration.
Sorry, for your loss JBour - I can relate though, while I was reclassing to 18D, my grandmother died, after a series of strokes. I could not make the memorial service due to the training schedule (Medlab), it was tough.

Odd piece about this is - the day after my grandmother died (somehow I knew it had happened), a frien who just happened to be MAJ commanding part of 4th PsyOp, ran his group at the MataMile to find me - stopped our formation and asked for me - NOT something that really goes over well.

SnafuRacer · 08-23-2006, 10:26

Thank you for sharing that story, sir!
I am not a father yet, but I hope to be half as tenacious and loving as LTC Holt.

hoepoe · 10-09-2006, 01:45

Wow, just wow!

Humbling....

Be sure to see the vid at the end and have sound on, not a trick...

http://cjcphoto.com/can/

Hoepoe

Surgicalcric · 10-09-2006, 06:27

There arent words to describe that.

x SF med · 10-09-2006, 06:31

There is a whole thread covering this guy in another area - he's amazing.

Dan, can this be appended to that thread? I'll do the search and post it here.

***edit*** "Strongest Dad in the World" - started 8/23/2006 by Mugwump ***end edit, out***