Athlete returns to fight arthritis

Press, 24 September 1987, Page 3

Athlete returns to fight arthritis

By

CHRISTOPHER

MOORE In 1974, the future seemed golden for Dick Tayler, the winner of the 10,000 m event at the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch. Within months of his medal-winning run, the gold had turned to lead after Tayler was told that he was suffering from the crippling effects of arthritis. The diagnosis was devastating, but the last decade has seen another personal victory for this quietly spoken athlete. Tayler needed all the determination, and mental and physical strength he showed at the Queen Elizabeth II stadium, to overcome the disease. Today he is chairman of the Arthritis Foundation’s appeal committee, urging New Zealanders to support and help the estimated million people suffering from the disease. He returned to Canterbury yesterday to help cut a cake to celebrate the foundation’s twenty-first anniversary. A short jog round Hagley Park later showed that the spirit of the man who faced a

traumatic end to an outstanding athletic career is still burning. Within months of standing on the winner’s podium to receive his gold medal, Tayler was told that he was suffering from ankylosing spondylitis, a form of arthritis which affected the ankles and knees. “I had always thought that arthritis only affected you when you reached old age. It was a shock. The fact that running would no longer be possible was the hardest thing to come to grips with,” he said. After two years of intensive treatment, he regained 95 per cent mobility.

“I was one of the lucky ones. I came through it. When I was in hospital, I saw other people who were worse off. The discipline of running also helped me.” Medical research and science keep the effects of arthritis at bay. Tayler’s work with the foundation is a personal way of thanking the medi-

cal professionals for their help, encouraging greater public awareness of the disease and its effects. “Virtually every family has someone with arthritis or rheumatism in some form or another. The foundation has limited funds: It gets 90 per cent of its funds from the public and 10 per cent from the Government. “My work as chairman of the appeal committee allows me to meet fellow arthritis victims, something which I have valued and enjoyed. The depression which often accompanies the disease is often the most difficult aspect to come to terms with for sufferers and their families. But the fact that many people are similarly affected helps them realise that they are not alone.” Arthritis can never be totally beaten, a fact which Tayler must come to terms with. The Arthritis Foundation will hold its door-to-door appeal on Monday, October 5.