Published: July 24, 2008 10:34 am            

Inspiration through the act of competition

Duncan resident uses bicycle for therapy in battle with ms

Hundreds of athletes will descend on Duncan Saturday to take part in the Dehydrator Ride and Race. Some will come to take part recreationally. Others will come to challenge others and many will come to challenge themselves.

Count J’Nell Ash in the latter category.

Ash will take part in the women’s 49-20 competition, which consists of three laps around the 14-mile course. In competing, the mother of three will realize a dream while battling the toughest opponent in the field, multiple sclerosis.

“This is my first dehydrator,” Ash said. “It’s something I thought I could never do or would do. I would read in the paper about it and wonder who would want to do that? Now it’s a goal to accomplish. I would like to say that I have accomplished a great goal.”

There are days when getting out and about is an accomplishment for Ash. Diagnosed with the disease in 2005, Ash has curtailed an active lifestyle while putting a focus on getting in shape in order to keep the debilitating results of MS at bay.

While competitive bicycle riding may seem like the last thing someone suffering from MS would get into, Ash has found the sport to be a source of therapy and empowerment. Once she was able to overcome her fears, Ash was extending routine rides from six miles to 20 miles.

The farthest that she has ridden is 37 miles but leading into the race, she feels that she is in optimal shape to finish the event and prove something to herself as well as others suffering from her affliction. Competing is merely an extension of how she has lived, keeping positive and not allowing MS to define her.

“I’m competing against myself,” Ash said. “It’s something that I can say ‘I did it.’ I pushed myself beyond the limits.”

The philosophy of pushing herself beyond her known limits began shortly after she was diagnosed.

Ash’s journey to the starting line of the Dehydrator began in 2005, when she felt her thumb go numb while playing basketball with her youth group. She visited a family physician who referred her to a neurologist. Before she visited the neurologist, the numbing sensation would spread to two more fingers and move up toward her elbow. She would also suffer a back spasm that would leave her immobilized for more than seven hours, which may or may not have been connected to her MS.

The uncertainty and despair Ash felt did not receive any relief when a lesion was found on her neck. An MRI was performed and when she was told by a nurse that she would have to wait 48 hours to learn the results, she began to do her own research via computer and came to the conclusion that would soon be confirmed.

“I looked it up and just sat there. I was numb,” Ash said. “Where does my life go? How long before I wind up in a wheelchair? Your mind just runs wild.

“On Feb. 23, my husband, David, and I went to the neurologist and were in the process of sitting down when he said ‘you have MS.’ David asked all the questions and I just sat there.”

After the visit with the neurologist, they went to eat with their daughter and son-in-law and did their best to put it in the back of their mind. For the next week, it was an ordeal as J’Nell struggled to find sleep. As the news settled in, it was her faith in God that gave her comfort and the strength for the days ahead.

“My faith in God is my foundation,” Ash said. “If I did not believe that God knew everything, what was in my future, then I would have been a basket case. It would be so dark without hope. It surprised me, but it didn’t surprise Him. He has given me all the strength that I need.”

Ash maintained her role as a youth leader throughout the rest of 2005 but resigned so that she could keep control over her daily activities. She did continue to serve as the western Oklahoma coordinator for the Junior Bible Quiz and was one of three co-founders of an MS support group in Duncan that will enjoy its one-year anniversary in September.

“My responsibility as a believer in God is to live the life that Christ wants me to live,” Ash said. “It’s my choice on how I react to it. I can be negative or I can help others and use it for good.”

Ash will look like any other competitor Saturday in the Dehydrator. She terms MS as an invisible disease, one that can be frustrating because while she may look like she is doing well, she is not necessarily feeling well and is having to push through just to accomplish everyday tasks.

She and her husband will compete in the race. David has had to overcome his own obstacles, suffering from a rare form of arthritis that has been quelled with medication. He will start at the race at the Simmons Center for the warm-up while she will be at the starting line, ready to go at 8 a.m.

“I hope to complete it,” Ash said. “I may not be able to, but I hope I can do it under three hours. I’ve chosen to do the race rather than the leisure rides because they aren’t a challenge for me anymore.”

Of course, when you take on MS on a regular basis, challenges are harder to find.

        

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