20-20 MIND-SIGHT: Mental Mastery Has Champion Biathlete Lyle Nelson on Target

     Lyle Nelson is living proof that the seemingly straight and narrow pathways of life are often transformed into unpredictable, winding roads.

     Ever since he began displaying outstanding competitive skiing skills at age 5, it was a safe bet that Nelson would become an Olympic skier.  After all, each of the 10 McCall, Idaho natives who had previously qualified for the Games had done so in that sport.

     “I had so many role models, encouragement and support that my personal belief in making it as an Olympic skier was high,” Nelson said.  “But after graduating from West Point (in 1971 with a degree in engineering sciences), I was assigned to the military biathlon unit instead of infantry.  I had to learn to shoot over several years.  So, it was like I begrudgingly became a biathlete (the biathlon combines cross country skiing and shooting) because I was always a skier.”

     But Nelson not only broke the pattern of his hometown, he also became a four-time Olympian in the process.  Nelson accomplished the feat with what he refers to as “dedication to excellence.”

     “My first approach is, ‘Whatever everyone else does, do 10 per cent more,’” said the 39-year-old Essex Junction, VT resident.  “For two straight years—during my junior and senior years in college—I lifted weights from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. every night, and almost always got up at 6 a.m.  It was my strategy for success, and it worked.  It got me into the door and onto the Olympic team.”

     But that was just a small measure of Nelson’s overall workout.  He supported himself in the mid-1970s through a variety of jobs which the average person would consider beneath him.  Nelson knew exactly what he was doing.

     “I used to only take jobs that looked incredibly hard,” Nelson said.  “It had to require some type of digging, heavy pushing or pulling.  It’s like I was taking a job and got paid to train all day.  I’d tell them that I’d work harder than they could believe, four hours a day.  Me and this Norwegian skier had a logging job in California that paid us $200 a week.  The harder we worked, the more he paid us.”

     It obviously paid dividends.  Nelson’s leg of the four-person, 30-kilometer relay was the fifth best (total time of run plus an additional 30-second penalty for each of the 10 targets missed) among 68 international participants at the 1976 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria.

     After another good showing in the 1980 Lake Placid games, Nelson further displayed his athletic abilities by winning NBC television’s 1984 version of “Survival of the Fittest,” which relied on outstanding mountainside skills.  But around then, Nelson learned that sheer athletic prowess was not enough to ensure an Olympic biathlon medal.

     “By the 1984 games (in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia), I realized that the lack of greater mental skills kept me from winning the gold medal,” Nelson said.  “That’s what the shooting segment requires—100 per cent mental skills.  But that’s what I needed to know in the ‘70s when I was more athletic.  I was a real hard-trained, hard-pushing athlete who always thought that thinking got in the way of athletics.

     “What I needed to learn was self-confidence and what was needed to be properly motivated—to change bad attitudes and correct training procedures.  I remember sitting down and writing every variable necessary in biathlon.  I was surprised to find that there were 15 in all, and physical ability was needed in only one.”

     Besides his marriage, career in medical science with the Air National Guard, Ph.D. studies in human development at the Fielding Institute of Santa Barbara, CA, and countless speaking engagements, Nelson cited his refusal to see himself go “downhill” as another reason to bow out of Olympic competition.  But that in no way signifies a “winning is everything” attitude for him.

     What Nelson will miss most is the true spirit of international competition in a sport where national boundaries are hardly obvious.

     “In our sport, it’s not Americans vs. Russians or Americans vs. East Germans,” Nelson said.  “We’re all good friends who constantly joke about each other’s country, coach and culture.  The fact that we’re all good friends is incredible considering we have rifles and about 50 per cent of us are in the military.  That’s what I’ll miss the most—the camaraderie.”

Carrying Flag Was a Source of Pride

     The U.S. flag has turned up in some exotic locations over the past few decades.

     During World War II, “Old Glory” was dramatically hoisted over Mount Suribachi on the small Pacific island of Iwo Jima.  On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong gallantly planted our flag into the surface of the moon.

     It was with similar pride and honor that biathlete Lyle Nelson carried his nation’s flag into Calgary’s McMahon Stadium in the parade of nations which opened February’s (1988) Winter Olympic Games.      

     “When you walk into an Olympic stadium, you experience a different kind of cheer than from any other sport,” Nelson said.  “It’s not the type where you’re told to kill the other team.  Instead, it’s a feeling of all nations being together and everyone cheering for peace and friendly competition.

     “I almost wished I could have turned around and yelled something, but I was walking way out in front of everyone else on the team.  You can take everything else from my four different Olympics.  That two-minute walk was it for me.”

     Nelson was selected flag-bearer through a popular vote of the entire American entourage.  But the choice was not made until each of the 10 captains presented a nomination speech for an athlete in his sport.

     “Josh Thompson is my captain, and he was very eloquent in his argument for me,” Nelson said.  “He not only explained that I’m the only four-time Olympian and the oldest person on the team (39), but also that I’ve written and been published on the topic.  He argued that I’m not just an athlete, but part of the Olympic spirit.

     "I was pretty excited about it.  I've made a fairly serious commitment to the Olympic spirit in fitness, youth sports and promotion of good will.  To be recognized as a model Olympian after all that hard work, is extremely rewarding.  It's probably like Galileo the first time he actually saw something through the telescope!"

Guardian Angels are Everywhere!

     It all started after my girlfriend and I spent more than a week combing through a 12-state area. We learned there were slim pickings regarding much of a travel-laden, extended Memorial Day weekend.  Due to COVID-19 shutting down nearly all attractions, both indoors and out, we had whittled down our plans to Kansas City. 

     Even then, we were forced to choose among limited time slots offered online at the zoo.  Similar choices existed for Sea Life Aquarium at Crown Center.  There were a good number of hiking options, but the latest forecasts showed heavy rain for nearly all four days!  So, it was down to staying much closer to home with three or four Friday hikes.

     But in the famous words of a Robert Frost poem, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go astray.”  And Friday’s hiking extravaganza never quite materialized.

     We arrived at Pickle Springs Natural Area at 9:35 a.m.  I unknowingly passed the first small parking area of the 77-mile drive, and turned into the adjacent one.  Luckily, it was a lot larger and deeper because within 20 feet of entering that lot and attempting to turn right into a parking space, my car briefly sputtered and died.  I tried to restart it.  But even though it more than sputtered, the car did everything but turn over.

     Since I just had a new battery installed within the last two months, I knew it wasn’t that.  But after paging through the 200-page-plus owner’s manual, we had no idea why this vehicle, with just over 45,000 miles, decided to shut down.

     At that time, Pickle Springs was set to be our first of four or five scheduled stops for the day.  There was just one other car and it was on the first lot.  Within a half hour, a half dozen more cars arrived.  I asked just about everyone if they could perhaps observe one of my attempts of starting the car and help diagnose the problem.  But everyone refused to even listen.

     That was both before and after we called a company to try and arrange a tow of the car to a service station somewhere close to Farmington.  We were told that tow truck drivers could try to jump start and tow vehicles, and could request to diagnose the problem, but could not guarantee it. We were also told there were probably no places open in Farmington that could actually fix my car during this Memorial Day weekend.

     Also, a tow truck driver could try and jumpstart my car, but if we drove it again, it could have died out again around there or even on the highway.  In addition to having to be towed again, that could be extremely dangerous.

     The kicker was that it was company policy merely to tow the vehicle, but not take any passengers due to the fairly recent corona virus.  So, we went back and forth with that company. 

     Meanwhile, I spoke to the owner of my long-time service station, whose shop is a couple miles from my house and 90 miles from here.  He said to bring my car there, as they were open until 5 p.m. 

     But there was one other problem.  How would we get back to that location?  We were wondering how much it would cost for an Uber to pick us up and drive us that far or if we even knew anyone we could call who would be willing to drive down there to pick us up.

     In the interim, I approached several people among another 10 cars that pulled into the two parking lots.  Finally, a young man and his wife, plus their two young children not only listened to my car, but showed sympathy throughout the episode.  Ironically, they lived just a mile on the other side of the same service station.

     That’s when our guardian angel stepped in.  We received a call from a man at an area tow truck company who said that, even with the COVID-19 scare, he would let us ride in his truck and take us back with the towed vehicle to our St. Louis area station. He said that helping others any way he could was his personal mantra.

    

     While we rode in the vehicle, we learned a great deal about the driver.  The first thing was that, he didn’t expect to be in the business very long, but once again, he enjoyed going the extra mile (no pun intended) to help others.  In the drive of some 90-100 minutes, he gave several details of that lifestyle in both his personal and professional life.

     The driver described his personal life of being born in Florida from a broken home and living in a foster home at the age of 11.  That’s when his father had passed away, but not before he taught and indoctrinated into his son the value of hard work and helping others.  Ironically, I was wearing a shirt this day that had Florida cities and attractions all over it!

     Although he was putting in countless hours and miles sometimes driving people as much as a couple hundred miles or more, he started his own physical location business recently. It’s also in a field that helps others. 

     Our driver said the part he likes least about being in business is dealing with money matters.  He said he hates money!  He also mentioned how, in his view, it’s strange how so many young people nowadays don’t possess a very good work ethic.  On that note, he described a very low-key manual labor position that paid $36/hour for a 40-hour job, but all the company found was one young man who lasted just two days.

     While all these stories unraveled and all three of us spoke about various aspects of today’s world, I mentioned he was like our Clarence, the guardian angel from “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

     The driver just laughed and reiterated, “If I can help people, I will.  That’s the most important thing.”

     As the driver pulled out of the service station parking lot in the St. Louis area, I noticed a large ‘In God We Trust’ sticker on the back of the truck window.  When he turned onto the main street, we waved goodbye.  The honking of the truck horn could easily have been mistaken for the sound of bells.  This driver definitely earned his wings with us!

Covid-19 Impacts Ballwin’s Recreation, Events and Finances

(published on May 12 in West Newsmagazine)

     
   Like countless get-togethers over the past several weeks, the May 11 Ballwin Board of Aldermen Meeting was solely available for viewing through ZOOM video conferencing. 

     Modern technology aside, the first half of the meeting was representative of how the city has conducted its business over the long term.  It was audit presentation time.

     Rich Gratza and Allison Weems, of the accounting firm Kerber, Eck and Braeckel, took turns praising Ballwin and its finance committee, led by Finance Officer Denise Keller.  Their major points reflected Ballwin’s continued progress in multiple areas while maintaining balance sheets where expenditures are consistently exceeded by revenues.

     Due to COVID-19, Ballwin is set to be even more stringent in its spending in the last half of 2020 while balancing health concerns and future fun.

     In answer to emailed questions after the meeting, Keller provided a wide variety of updates.

     “Concerning upcoming events, we have cancelled our Ballwin Days Festival and our Memorial Day program,” Keller replied.  “We are working on plans to schedule an event in the fall that has some of the elements of Ballwin Days, but on a smaller scale.  Our Summer Concert Series has been pushed back to the fall as well. We anticipate still holding our Craft Beer Festival in September, but with modifications.  New events we are adding include a Celebrate Summer Drive Thru Parade and a Virtual 5K Run.”

     Keller also said the city will consult more with St. Louis County before deciding when to reopen The Pointe at Ballwin Commons Recreation Center, North Pointe Aquatic Center and its summer camp programs.  Each of those opportunities will also include modifications.

     Increases in the admission fees/membership rates were decided upon several months ago to help offset some of the mandated minimum wage increases the city expected to incur as a result of primarily summertime employment.  Since they have already been implemented, Keller said the city would take a wait and see approach for any potential fee adjustments based on factors such as when venues might open and what allowable capacities will be.

     “The city is reducing costs when and where we can to offset the revenue shortfalls we are experiencing from our closed recreation facilities and the anticipated reductions in sales tax receipts,” Keller said.  “We have a strong reserve fund balance which is enabling us to maintain our full-time staffing level, although we have implemented a hiring freeze for full-time positions.”

     A few other COVID-related items were revealed at the Board meeting.

     A motion was passed unanimously for Ballwin to go to what Mayor Tim Pogue described as a ‘summer schedule’ for near future Board meetings.  The first meeting of the month will be cancelled for June, July and August, with meetings taking place only on the fourth Monday of those months.

     “Hopefully, we’ll be able to hold those meetings in person with social distancing instead of these ZOOM meetings,” Pogue said.

     Another item that was unanimously agreed upon was the extension of the end date for long-time City Administrator Bob Kuntz’s final term of office from May 31 to June 30.

     Keller said the Board was in the process of interviewing candidates for the position so Kuntz could retire, again.  Interviews are currently being conducted through ZOOM, but finalists will be interviewed in person after restrictions have been relaxed, she said.

  Ironically, Kuntz was in the limelight just prior to the board meeting adjournment.

     “Thanks to Mr. (Chris) Conway (director of parks and recreation), I have very attractive city of Ballwin face masks for each one of you,” Kuntz said.  “They are personally engraved, so you won’t confuse them with others.  If you go to any official function, you have your official city of Ballwin face mask.  I can arrange to get them to any of you.  They are very attractive for this situation!”

    At the request of Keller, Kuntz even modeled one of the dark blue items with white lettering.

     “I’ll be here (for mine) first thing in the morning!” Alderman Mark Stallman (Ward 2) said, noting when he would arrive to pick up his mask.

Always Appreciate the Simple Wonders of Life

     

      When athletes are on a hot streak, they are said to be in the zone.  That’s precisely how I felt after work yesterday evening simply because I was alone in nature.  After all, my mindset is akin to Henry David Thoreau at Walden Pond; John Muir or Gifford Pinchot in forest or mountain solitude.

     Throughout my 8-4 work shift, I was literally praying that it would not rain during that ensuing time period.  That was after I met outdoors with my favorite once-a-week vendor in a light rain shower at mid-morning.

     Things looked promising most of the day.  Then it started raining as soon as I sprinted from the work place and got to my car.  Just five minutes later, it was pouring combined with lightning bolts in the west southwestern sky that seemed to travel from the skyline far into the stratosphere.

     But soon as I had parked my car at Creve Coeur Park’s Sailboat Cove, as I had done hundreds of times, the shower had ended.  It was as if my guardian angel had parted the clouds like Moses had parted the Red Sea.

     I normally walk around the entire lake counter-clockwise, which had been forbidden over the past two weeks due to the ungodly corona virus outbreak.  It didn’t matter how sick I was of the term ‘social distancing’ or TV and radio commercials proclaiming ‘We’re all in this together,’ etc. etc. etc.  I wanted to be alone in nature.

     So, after a brisk 10-minute walk in the demanded clockwise position on the paved trail, I made a sharp turn to my right and continued in that direction and all the way back on the nice, soft sand along the lake’s edge.

     On this 75-degree day, how I enjoyed the cool, fresh ‘ocean’ breeze tangling my long, salt and pepper brown hair.  I was lost in time as if I was back exploring some of the great coastal and landlocked beaches I’ve had the privilege to enjoy while exploring all 50 states and beyond.  While walking, I was reminiscing about coastal beach giants like Waikiki, Panama City, Cannon, Acadia and Valdez.

     I was also content to amble about, tuning out the remainder of civilization, collecting colorful pebbles and rocks of a wide variety of colors just as I have always done in other states.  The reason for this is that I have always enjoyed the simple things in nature…well before COVID-19 hit to enjoy its millisecond of time in the earth’s history.

     How about you?  What are some of the simple things in life you will choose to enjoy that perhaps you have taken for granted for lengthy stretches of your life?

     I know that many of you have let all aspects of the pandemic totally overtake your way of life and your psyche for two straight months.  But how will your thought process change in the coming weeks?  It’s 100 per cent up to you because, whether you realize it or not, we are not all in the same boat for this or just about any other areas of life. 

     Like a wide variety of diamonds, we were all created as individuals with an opportunity to exhibit our own special facets in the Great Human Potential of life itself.  And the time to start realizing that is in this very moment!  So, go find your own zones of wonderment in both work and play!

Triathlon Troops: Sport Born in Marines Looking for a Few Good Athletes

     Anyone who doesn’t believe the sport of triathlon is the prime measure of athletic excellence should “tell it to the Marines.”

     After all, it was a small group of that enclave which reputedly generated the idea about a dozen years ago.

     “Actually, there were a couple different starts of it,” said Dave Ware, president of Mid-America Triathletes.  “One started when several members of the Marines were sitting around and getting drunk, arguing which among runners, bikers and swimmers made the best athletes.”

     So, they decided to do all three events back-to-back on Oahu in the first triathlon back in 1978.  That challenge, which saw 12 of 15 entrants finish, later grew into 1,000 participants completing the grueling 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run known as the Kona Ironman Triathlon.

     In 1979, Sports Illustrated referred to the event as “lunatic,” but a new breed of American athletes hasn’t viewed it as such.

     “The growth of triathlon is phenomenal!”  Ware said.  It’s taking off faster than any modern-day sport.  Some people got tired of just running, and were looking for a new challenge.  Bikers who developed injuries looked for other methods of keeping in shape.

     “A lot of people saw the Ironman on TV and thought it was a neat idea.  Triathlon gives you a goal to work on, and once you do, you’re hooked”

     Although it’s hardly recommended for the everyday athlete to try an Ironman event, participation in shorter triathlons doesn’t require as much training as most people might think.

     Ware’s first attempt was the completion of a standard triathlon of roughly .75 miles of swimming, 35 miles on the bicycle and 6.2 miles of running.  It took him less than six weeks to train for that event.  But if that sound too ominous, a mini-triathlon encompassing distances of a quarter- to half-mile of swimming, 10 to 15 miles on the bike and 3 to 5 miles of running can be easily found.

     “Obviously, if you haven’t ridden a bike since you were five years old or jumped into the pool for the first time, you’ll have trouble,” Ware said.  “But most three- or four-day-a-week athletes could comfortably finish a triathlon after just a few weeks of training.”

    

     The ultimate challenge of competing in three different sports draws some people into triathlons, while the degree of camaraderie attracts others.  Besides meeting people from throughout the Midwest and the country at triathlons themselves, St. Louisans can make countless appearances while they train.

     “A lot of people out of necessity train alone,” Ware said.  “But the triathlon club, YMCA and other groups feature training events where people can get together.  We have a Wednesday night bike ride with people of all different levels of ability, and a regular club meeting the first Monday of every month.”

     It isn’t hard to find an event in which to participate.  A sample of nearby cities that host triathlons are Belleville, Wood River, Alton, Jefferson City, Mexico and Columbia.

     But the most popular triathlon in the Midwest is the Bud Light-Lake St. Louis Triathlon scheduled for 8 a.m. Sunday at Lake St. Louis.  Now in its sixth year, the Lake St. Louis event has had to limit participation to 1,000 entries.  It is equally popular with spectators.

     “Triathlon is an exciting sport to experience,” Ware said.  “You constantly see interesting developments in all three individual events.  There used to be a lot of questions as to which are the better athletes.  But now, none of these is thought of as the top because triathlon is considered a separate sport in itself.”

Plowsharing Crafts Helps the Needy with Innovative Approach

By Jeffry Greenberg (West End Word)

     Excessive attention to individual gain often hinders the welfare of the world at large.  But the ‘family of man’ attitude of people like Rich Howard-Willms is certainly paying big dividends for some of our planet’s less fortunate inhabitants.

     Howard-Willms is manager of Plowsharing Crafts, a not-for-profit store in the University City Loop that helps the world’s needy by selling their craft items.  It is part of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) SELFHELP Crafts network.

     The entire program, which began in 1947, utilizes the services of 700 volunteers and a handful of paid employees to operate 110 shops across Canada and the United States.  The program aids some 30,000 families throughout the world.

     The St. Louis store, which opened in Maplewood, moved to 6301-A Delmar Blvd in 1987.  Howard-Willms has been with Plowsharing Crafts from the outset.

     “Members of the church (St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship) decided to start an outreach program, and this was a natural,” Howard-Willms said.  “I, being Canadian but married in America, couldn’t work for money at the time.  So, I ended up doing volunteer work.  Now, I’m the only paid person (small wages) among about 40 volunteers.”

     Plowsharing Crafts derives its name from Micah 4 in the Old Testament of the Bible: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks…”  According to Howard-Willms, the name was chosen because of the Mennonite Church’s historical peaceful stance.

     Instead of strength through military action, the church spreads peace by providing on-going financial assistance to communities in foreign lands.

     “The overall aim of the church is to help people help themselves,” Howard-Willms said.  “We do that by getting crafts from developing countries to our warehouses in Akron, PA and Hamburg, Ontario then sell them through stores in the United States and Canada.

     “We’re a small bucket in a large ocean.  But our purpose is sort of like the old adage, ‘To give a person fish for one day is OK, but to teach him how to fish lasts a lifetime.’  Helping people create their own kind of business and develop things on their own is the way to go.  That can effect real change.”

     Howard-Willms has seen the benefit of the program firsthand.  He was one of 18 store managers who visited India and Bangladesh on a three-week trip last winter.

     His group has encouraged people to work together in cooperatives then set up savings accounts for their profits.  Six years ago, there was not a single copying machine in Saipur, a town of 150,000 people in Bangladesh.  Townspeople had to travel 30 miles to use one.  But now, a group of three women runs a thriving business of six copy machines—the only business run by women among hundreds of stalls in this patriarchal society.

     A highlight of Howard-Willms’ trip was observing the soap-stone work performed by many of the descendants of those who built the Taj Majal.  But Howard-Willms also remembers the tremendous dust created by the work, which forced the operation to close for a full year.

     Deforestation is a long-term problem in that region of northern India.  But some of the problems elsewhere are of a more immediate nature.

     “In Calcutta (Kolkata), there are 15 to 20 million people living in a place where there used to be 1 to 1.5 million,” Howard-Willms said.  “It’s so crowded and dirty.  What we consider a slum here is nothing by comparison.

    “In Bangladesh, five months previously, three-fourths of the country had an incredible flood.  We saw incredibly poor and impoverished conditions, but the people accepted their lifestyles and were happy to meet us.  They gave us flowers and coconut juice and even sang to us.”

     The townspeople are extremely grateful for the work that the SELFHELP Crafts program has provided, and for the sales that are generated through stores and offsite locations such as Sunday bazaars.

     In addition to helping those in the poorest nations of the world, SELFHELP assists native American Indian tribes like the Zuni and Navajo as well as people in Appalachia.

     Among the extremely poor of more developed countries are women, who traditionally receive fewer employment opportunities than me.  Also aided are handicapped people and rural dwellers who wish to remain in their home environments instead of seeking work in big cities.

     “We make connections with people in these areas,” Howard-Willms said.  “The way that the process works is that people make things and get paid right on the spot because they need it then.  We ask them to set a price instead of just giving them an amount of money.  Shipping, tariffs and export taxes are tacked onto the price we charge.  If $1 is the price, 50 cents goes to them and 50 cents to us.”

     Some of the Plowsharing Crafts products and prices are a large iron chess set from Cameroon ($295) and a smaller soap-stone version from Kenya ($95), beautiful wooden toys from Sri Lanka (each under $10), spiritual note cards from El Salvador (pack of six for $3) and jute coasters and placemats from Bangladesh (75 cents to $4.25). No taxes are charged.

     Other goods include hand-carved onyx from Pakistan, lovely sweaters from Uruguay and the Philippines, sets of carved wood zebra, elephant and giraffe bookends from Kenya, and rugs from Thailand and India.

     Howard-Willms admitted that, as a history major at the University of Waterloo (Ontario), he, like most SELFHELP managers, has no formal business training.  But that certainly isn’t evident in the program’s progress.

    SELFHELP has been growing at a phenomenal rate, with total sales more than tripling from $1.5 million to $5 million over the past 10 years.  Lack of financial knowledge has indeed been overshadowed by other qualities.

     “My main interest in school and real life are peace and justice issues,” Howard-Willms said.  “I came to St. Louis with the Peace in Justice Ministry.  Since none of us had any business acumen or background, we went into it blindly, and with large steps of faith.  It’s done better than we ever anticipated.

 

     “It’s a very satisfying feeling because you can see definitely that the work helps directly.  We always ask them if there’s anything else we can do, and they just say, ‘Give us more orders.’  Their lives are so different from ours, but until you see it, you can’t appreciate what we have.”

CYSTIC FIBROSIS: MOTHER KNOWS VALUE OF MENTAL OUTLOOK

     Most participants struggled through at least one of the six events of Saturday’s Cystic Fibrosis Corporate Games at John Burroughs School.  But in view of some of the barriers she has had to overcome in the past two decades, not even the obstacle course could be considered overly challenging for Deluxe Printers’ employee Alice Bacon.

     The west county woman not only has a 20-year-old son with cystic fibrosis, but she also gave birth to a second son who died of that affliction at the age of six months.

     “I was pretty uneducated as far as the disease was concerned, so it wasn’t a shock or devastating situation at first,” Bacon recalled.  “I didn’t even learn that my son Charlie had the disease until I visited with the doctors and had him tested after my first son (Stephen) died.”

     Bacon has learned a great deal since that time.  In addition to becoming familiar with postular drainage (where the chest is continually pounded on to help clear the lungs) and other medical treatments, Bacon is more aware of the role played by exercise and a high protein and high carbohydrate diet.

     But as important as the physical aspects are in attempts to keep the disease in check, Bacon believes that the mental outlook is equally significant.

     “It takes a total positive attitude from the whole family,” Bacon said.  “I’ve seen kids close to my son’s age who have abused themselves and given up.  You either accept it (cystic fibrosis) or don’t accept it.

   “A lot of it is how the child is diagnosed.  You have to look at CF as a normal part of life.  It doesn’t mean that your child will have a full life, but it usually helps if he continues to do therapy and you push him to the ultimate limits.  My attitude and my husband’s (Charles, Sr.) made the difference to where my son is today.”

     The Bacons have every reason to be proud of their son.  He just completed his sophomore year as a business major at Northeast Missouri State University.  In addition to performing all his necessary medical functions, Charlie runs every day and plays tennis in warm weather.

     The basic knowledge of both physical and mental health is probably more important to CF patients than to the general public.  But even if all the considerations are followed slavishly, there are still no guarantees of long life.  Few CF victims live past their 20’s.  That’s just one item in which Bacon believes the general public must become educated.

     “People shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions about CF,” Bacon said.  “We’re not going to hide in the closet.  We’re very willing to let people know about the disease so they can be educated.

     “It’s important that people are educated about all these things so they’re treated like normal human beings and not just people to feel sorry for.  Some certainly can’t do what my son is capable of, but almost all are capable of making something of themselves.”