Make the impossible possible — a personal story (Part 1)
Mountains, parachuting, rock climbing and travelling; Epilepsy and Dyslexia — a story of experiences and challenges I overcame.
At age of 4 diagnosed with Epilepsy and having nighttime seizures every week, I still lived a normal life — how? mindset and positive thinking. Read on to find out about my journey.
Everyone knew it was impossible, until a fool who didn’t know came along and did it — Albert Einstein
From the Age of 4, I was diagnosed with Epilepsy after being electrocuted by a bolt of lightning. At a young age in and out of hospital until it was brought under control, each seizure meant not knowing when/if I was to fall to the floor in convulsions. From there on in lay my future…or was it?
Following on with Albert Einstein's quote, the rest of my life made me become the “fool”, the one that saw everything I did as normal even though others around me saw what I did as impossible with the condition I have.
My early journey
Entering into private schooling from a young age I struggled with learning, yet loved sport and all that it entailed. In secondary school, I was diagnosed with Dyslexia (a learning disability) and Scatopic Sensitivity (sensitivity to bright lights) making reading, writing and learning a struggle. Extra classes with Irlen tinted glasses made it a little easier but combined with Epilepsy my life started with immense challenges.
Secondary school had a history teacher (Tony) a wide-eyed eccentric very supportive guy as round and jolly as Father Christmas and just as hairy. He took groups of children to do hiking around the UK or once a year on expeditions around the world. With his encouragement, I entered into my first hike at the age of 12 for a 3-mile trek in Wellington boots across the lake district (UK) — of course to a pub — despite by the end of it having sore wet feet, I absolutely loved it! For me a monumental challenge that felt like 100 miles. Did it put me off? …no.
After many weekends away, up all the highest peaks in the UK, Ben Nevis (1,345m), Skarfell pike (978m), and Snowdon (1,085m) even being stuck on the top of Ben Nevis in a hut overnight with no roof from gale force winds I asked, what next? International, where? Next trip was to Russia (USSR).
It was the early ’90s, communism was ripe, Mikhail Gorbachev was in power and the cold war was still alive. I was 14 years old when I went with a group of 10 other children travelling with Tony all the way to the far east of Russia to climb Mount Munku Sardyk (3,491m) on the Mongolian border southwest of Irkutsk close to the deepest lake in the world lake Baikal.
We carried our own gear and hiked for 5 days to get to the foot of the mountain. Did we get to the top? You bet, the views were amazing. We all got a certificate at the end as we were the very first western teenagers to scale the mountain. Once back to civilization, the Russians laid on a party for all of us with of course vodka for us teenage kids — boy a headache!
I could not resist going back
I visited Russia 2 other times over 1.5 decades, the second time to the Eastern Syan mountains and later (most recent expedition) to Kamchatka the far east of Russia right to the tip of the peninsula 300 miles northeast of Japan.
The second trip to the Eastern Syan mountains to go hiking in the region for 2 weeks despite being amazing, sadly had to be cut short as the swanky new hiking boots fell apart partway through. One of the 2 young Russian women that helped out on the trip took pity and offered both my friend and me to stay at her mother’s in Novokuznetsk a town of 500,000. We were greeted with open arms and during our stay which lasted for over a week, we were given freshly made hot food and a comfortable yet basic bed to sleep in. Neither of her parents spoke English but with my piano playing, and a few badly pronounced Russian words I got by and everyone enjoyed our stay. We were made to feel a part of the community. Despite the current western look upon Russia, people outside of the cities are very friendly, open their doors to you and are generous to a fault.
Once our stay in Novokuznetsk ended, instead of flying we took the Trans Siberian railway to Moscow, a 3-day train ride in Russian first class all the way — equivalent to western standard class. We stayed a night in the Moscow Intourist hotel then sadly the next morning a flight back to the UK.
The 3rd and last trip was to Kamchatka a world away from the UK being GMT+12. We had to carry all our gear 25Kg’s+ hiking for over a week to get to a 3-mile wide glacier where we pitched camp to climb mountains in the area.
This trip was several years after university in my late-20s, an expedition to an area that during the cold war was highly sensitive due to being close to the bearing straights, a stretch of sea that connects to Alaska which when iced over Russia and Alaska are landlocked — 30 years earlier you would have been shot on sight, as then there were active military bases in the region.
Ever since the first trip, Russia had been fascinating to me. I was lucky to see the progression from when communism was still ripe to the post-collapse of communism.
Post Russia, and onto my next challenge
Parachuting anybody? that will be part of my next article.
Never forget that even the impossible either professional or personal can be overcome. like Einstein, look to be the “fool”, and never go with the crowd.
If you have any questions/comments on my experiences or wish to know more about something specific, add a comment. It will be a pleasure to respond — I will be posting other articles as often as I can.
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