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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
Overcoming tragedy
with an iron willMIKE Nishimoto was from Arkansas (he sounds like Dr. Phil) and he was in the Navy, and he found himself stationed at Pearl Harbor. And he never left.
"After I got on island," he said, "it was love."
But he didn't do much, outside of work. So he decided to fix that, to get out. And it wasn't long before he fell in love again. He ran. He swam. Soon he was in triathlons, half Ironmans, Olympic distances. It was the most fun he'd had in a long, long time. Then, after five years, he was ready for the real thing. He could taste it. He couldn't wait.
He was training for Ironman New Zealand, in January, when the bus hit him, and changed everything forever.
His bike was broken, and so was his back. His liver and kidneys were lacerated, his lungs were punctured, his ribs cracked. His L2 nerve -- one that carries a lot of communication between the lower body and brain -- was completely severed.
A doctor told him straight out he would never walk again, and it hit him "just like that," Nishimoto said.
"I just broke down crying."
And as he told the story, he stood on his own two legs.
He took a step forward, with the aid of a walker, and then another.
Tomorrow, he'll walk his walker through the sand to the water's edge, then cast it aside to do the first leg -- a 2.4 mile swim -- of the Ironman Revisited to benefit the Challenged Athletes Foundation.
He hopes he, the CAF, this event, might help someone become an athlete again, or for the first time.
"Just enjoy life," he said, smiling like a man who does just that. "Life is not over."
He's heard the speech. His training buddies gave it over and over in his hospital room over those many months. They came, eight or 10 of them a day, every day, with computers and books, and snuck-in food. One day Nishimoto said he felt like a smoothie. The next thing he knew there were eight Jamba Juices in his room.
There was a Super Bowl party, with pizza and Chinese food, more than 40 people crowded around a tiny hospital TV.
His friends would tell him to ignore the dire predictions, as they stretched and manipulated his paralyzed legs. He would walk again. He would come back.
They pushed him the way they used to during their old 7 a.m. training runs.
After six months, he got out of the hospital. Four days later, on the Fourth of July, he was in his first wheelchair race.
Tomorrow he is one of a handful of challenged athletes doing part of the Ironman Revisited, and he wants more to join in.
"They should be able to enjoy what I enjoy," he said.
He tried wheelchair tennis Tuesday, and he loved it.
He's been medically retired from the Navy for about a month now, and in a few weeks he'll start looking for a job. In the meantime, he's training for the Waikiki Roughwater Swim on Sept. 1, and hopes to wheel through the Honolulu Marathon in December.
Then, maybe, Ironman Austria next July. He hopes to actually bike the bike part by then. Could his legs really do that?
He said, "I think I can."
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Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com
