This was me in October 1996, (20 months post DX and in hindsight 7 years after first recognsable symtoms) just prior to taking my first Tandem Skydive which was a gift to me from my wife for my 50th birthday. At this point in time I had been a wheelchair user for ten months and even though MND was having a severe affect on my feet and legs, by going to the gym and doing plenty of road work I managed to develop far more upper body strength than I have ever had before. The transition from being an 'Upright' to being a 'Wheelie' was no where near as difficult or as embarrassing as I was expecting it to be, I guess the motivation of being able to again visit shopping centres, movie theatres and cafes with out constantly falling down would have helped. Not falling down after leaving the pub was just an added bonus.

In my pre MND/ALS life, I was a very active person, I loved flying light aircraft, I windsurfed, jet-skied, scuba dived, sailed( when I could find someone with yacht), raced moto-cross and owned a variety of english sports cars. My first being a '57 Austin Healy 3000, but my favourite, was a series one SUNBEAM ALPINE of course.

I have tried my best to continue being adventuresome for as long as I could by abseiling down a cliff face in a wheelchair, waterskiing on a 'Sit Ski', paddling a Hawawiian Canoe (tied to the seat), playing Wheelie Rugby (once against the Brisbane Broncos) and Tandem Skydiving...twice.
For some reason I keep bumping into unusual people like this guy!

Then for a while I got my thrills at ten kms an hour in a power wheelchair. ( Once doing an illegal 'u' turn in a shopping centre just for fun, and then hogging the whole footpath, just to be a real bad ass)

 I never expected to be doing an update in July 2006 but here I am what can I say, over the last couple of years my rate of progression has slowed and I attribute that to LDN as that is the only form of medication I take, hey I may be doing this again next year ;o)

If someone was to ask me “Why do you think you have survived so long?” I think my answer would be, I don’t like to see waste, like with a tube of toothpaste I am trying to squeeze out every last bit. 20/09/06

I'm still waiting patiently too for the “White Coats” to turn up a cure, so far they've failed me and all other PALS. I can't keep track of the number of my friends who've given up waiting but it's become very large and very painful. I've long had to give up my own adventures and now get my thrills watching other people on TV getting there's. It ain't so bad. It is becoming rather frustrating though waiting for Mark Webber to win his first F1 Grand Prix, I certainty hope he does it soon.