Last Thursday I was fortunate enough to meet Bill Irwin. He spoke at an event put on by the Bangor Humane Society. Bill has been legally blind since he was 28...and he walked the entire length of the Appalachian Trail with only his guide dog. Bill carried a 100 pound back pack.
He described the first few miles as totally frightening. He had no idea whether his dog was going in the right direction or not. He had planned to tell the direction by the sunlight. He can see very bright light, and his plan was that he would know which way was north by knowing what time of day it was and where the sun would be.
The first day was overcast and raining.
For the next 8 1/2 months he hiked from the beginning of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia to the end on Katahdin, relying only on the occasional help from people he met along the trail.
A few years ago I hiked Katahdin with Becca and Daniel. My legs felt like spaghetti on the way down. The next day I walked like Frankenstein. Thank God my biggest challenge the next day was getting up from a sitting position after examining my patients.
The relationship that Bill had with his guide dogs is amazing. He has had a total of 5 in his lifetime. The one he came with when I saw him speak was not the one that helped him summit Katahdin. He told the story of each one and what they meant to him. They were all trained as guide dogs and as their faculties decreased with time, they would go to a retirement center or be kept by the client. The retirement center was a multimillion dollar facility, but Bill usually kept his for the rest of their time. This led to some funny stories of jealousy between his working dog and his retired dog.
Toward the end of his presentation he shared something private about his path toward this accomplishment. When he was in his mid 40's his son went to rehab for a $3,000/day cocaine habit. At the time Bill's biggest concern was that he would have to go to the family portion of his son's therapy at this rehab center without alcohol. You see, he said...he hadn't gone a day without alcohol in 15 years and was drinking a gallon a day, in addition to smoking 5 pack of cigarettes and weighing 250lbs.
So on the way to his son's rehab he drank a bottle of Wild Turkey. He showed up smashed, but never had another drink. He went on to be the first blind man to hike the AT and have a successful motivational speaking career.
My guess is that he is now in his early 70's and is lean and fit.
His new guide dog drinks to ease the pressure of filling the paws of that last one.
Kidding.
Seriously though, it did make me think how important it is to keep the bar raised in our lives. I've always believed that its not the cards you are dealt, but how you play them. Bill's story is a reminder that you can be dealt a challenging hand and ultimately play it really well.
It also reminded me just how loyal our pets are. I'm not sure if my dogs could navigate the Appalachian Trail if I was blind. I'm pretty sure my cats could, but they would guide me down into a ravine and then laugh hysterically as I tried to find my way out.
