Sail-World.com : The Paralympics - a reason for living
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The Paralympics - a reason for living |
The Paralympics means a lot to all of the competitors. For USA’s Nick Scandone, the Paralympics has been a reason for living. Nick is has survived the long journey to Qingdao and is counting down the days before the Paralympics starts.
Since June of 2002, when a series of neurological tests indicated that Scandone may have the telltale signs of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, he has lost one third of his body weight. He has also lost motor coordination in his legs and strength and coordination in his arms.
In the same month that the 2005 2.4Meter world champion determined that the progression of his disease would force him to switch to the SKUD18 and rely on a crew for boat handling, Scandone lost his mother and his sister. Despite these and other setbacks, Scandone has persisted. 'Having a goal and something to look forward to have been a big bonus. I concentrate on stuff with a two- month time frame. My near term goal is to get to China, try to win a medal and come back and say ‘thank you’ to all of my supporters,' said Scandone just eight weeks before the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Regatta in Qingdao, China.
As an able bodied sailor, Scandone won the 470 North Americans and even did an Olympic 470 campaign. There is no doubt that he is a talented sailor, but his body just won’t let him compete the way he used to. 'We don’t put nearly as much time in on the water as other competitors, but I don’t think that any of them could come close to matching the hours that I have put in over a lifetime of sailing,' said the 42-year old. 'As long as I have even speed, I’ll have a chance to finish well.'
Scandone has won a very high percentage of the races that he has sailed since the first time he was strapped into the skipper’s seat of the SKUD 18. He and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker strung together a number of first place finishes in the 2007 IFDS Worlds that were offset by three DNF’s caused by a main halyard and outhaul that failed them. With the boat overhauled by their coach, Mike Pinckney, the pair went on to win every race of the US Paralympic Trials three weeks later. They also won the Alex Caviglia Regatta this January in the face of more adversity.
To understand Scandone’s training, you have to understand that ALS is a degenerative muscle disease. Physical exercise involves breaking down muscle tissue. Breaking down muscle tissue when your muscles can no longer accept nourishment accelerates ALS and its ultimate consequences – either paralysis or death. While Olympic and Paralympic sailors have been on strict weight loss diets for the past several months, Scandone feasts. For Scandone, 'a day of TV is a great thing and anything with a high fat content is good for him,' said Pinckney. 'We feed him a lot of protein shakes.'
As Scandone’s physical condition worsens, Pinckney develops more electrical and mechanical solutions to help his buddy control the boat. 'A simple breakdown like a halyard or an outhaul can cost you two races and the regatta,' explains Pinckney. Scandone is confined to a wheelchair and has such limited use of his arms that he can no longer flip the toggles that he used to use to help him tilt his fiberglass go-cart/skipper’s chair from side to side. Pinckney recently wired push buttons onto the levers that Scandone uses as rudder controls and he limited how far back the levers can go.
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by Lynn Fitzpatrick
12:26 AM Fri 12 Sep 2008 GMT
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