The Mind Is The Greatest Tool.
A journey of climbing an unseen mountain.
By: Sarah Tropkoff
Imagine you are a
senior in high school, you are one of the top soccer players at your school in
the best shape you could possibly be in, you are looking at 23 colleges to be part of their team, when BAM! You begin slowly losing feeling in your toes,
then your feet, then your knees, until you are paralyzed from your waist down.
While you are just imagining this nightmare, in December 2014 this became Seth
Burk’s reality.
To blame for Burks “nightmare”
is Guillian-Barre Syndrome. This disease attacks an individual’s central
nervous system. Essentially, the body mass produces antibodies that attack the
good and the bad in your body. When the good antibodies are attacked it is
obviously not good, especially when dealing with the body. In Burk’s case,
imagine that the nerves in his legs were copper wires insulated with rubber
tubing. Burk’s “rubber insulation” was completely stripped from him, short
circuiting his nervous system and leaving him paralyzed with no feeling from
the waist down. Burk’s life took a complete 180 turn.
Just a few months before Burk was
diagnosed with Guillian-Barre, he received his letter of acceptance to West
Virginia University. At first one would assume that anyone facing this would lose
all hope and put their head down and ask themselves, “Why me?” “What did I do
to deserve this?” Surprisingly, this was not the case for Seth Burk. He instead
stumbled upon an orientation trip that his adventurous side would not let him
pass up; Explore 7. This Adventure West Virginia trip was for incoming freshman
to rock climb, camp, and backpack to Spruce Knob over a 7 day period. Some
might think, this kid has lost his mind, he can’t go on that trip. Well anyone
thinking that, I’m happy to tell you you’re wrong. Finding this trip was a
blessing in disguise for Burk. While signing up for this trip, still paralyzed,
Burk began to use Adventure WV’s trip to aid him through his recovery process
so that he could reward himself by attending the trip come June!
"Powerful mind and positive determination can get you through it all."
Burk began his
recovery journey by developing an inner quote for himself; powerful mind and
positive determination can get you through it all. Each month leading up to the
trip he preached this to himself. He then set short and long term goals before
and during the trip. Starting with his paralysis his goal was to get out of the
wheelchair to using a walker. Done. Then he moved to walking with a cane. Done.
Then to walking independently. Done. In just a few months Burk’s life changed
from spending 5 long days in the hospital paralyzed to learning how to walk
within months. Burk began to understand the true meaning of the saying, “God
gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers,” because he knew his new
mission was to become the toughest soldiers he could be and personally, that’s
exactly what he has become.
While his recovery
lead him to West Virginia, the struggle did not stop there. The day came and
Burk found himself at Coopers Rock! He even found himself making goals right
from the start with no one knowing. His first goal was to not solely rely on
his arms but to use his legs to help him climb a few feet up the wall. Of
course, Burk was able to surpass this goal. “As I reached the midway point of my first wall, I began to
cry a little and I kissed the wall and looked at my feet and smiled. I was
doing it. I was climbing the wall. I was walking. I was on Adventure WV. Not
too long ago, it was just a hope and prayer for me to make it to this trip,”
said Burk. He was able to make it through day one and continue with confidence
onto the next day.
Aside from all the small
goals Burk had put forth and achieved, his biggest concern was the 3 days of
backpacking that was next. “I
asked Allison and Olivia, my backpack leaders, how far and the distances by day
so I could make my individual goals. My long term goal was to complete the trip
to the top of Spruce Knob without heavy assistance and to keep up with the
group. Each step forward for me was a blessing,” said Burk.
Along with his long
term goal, Burk made short term goals as the days went on. He decided that
every hour he would give himself little personal battles to overcome so that he
didn’t have the chance to look back or think about giving up. He wanted to make
sure he wasn’t the weakest link in the group because in Burk’s words “the group
is only as strong as their weakest link.” To keep his mind off of the pain and
worry of the possibility that his legs might give out at any minute, Burk
played games in his head and exchanged laughs with the Adventure crew. Each day
was tough but Burk remembered that he was a tough soldier, he had a powerful
mind and positive determination, and he could do it!
Then, “after three
wonderful days, we made it to the top. It wasn’t easy, but setting the goals
and keeping my mind busy really helped me. I kept saying to myself, “Keep
going! Look where you are and what you are doing! You are walking! Powerful
mind. Positive determination.” I did it, but I did not do it alone. I completed
it with the outstanding help of the rest of my backpacking team to help make
every step enjoyable,” said Burk.
Ultimately, being able to
make it onto this trip it became more of a hope message for Burk. No more
“maybe I can do it, I need to do it, I want to do it,” said Burk. All those
thoughts simply turned from hope to reality. In Burk’s eyes “hope is more than
enough, it is such an inspiring thing to set yourself a goal, even when you are
down in the lowest part you’ve ever been in, that hope gets you there and hope
is out there.” Now Burk doesn’t have to hope for his legs back, he doesn’t have
to hope he can go to college, and he doesn’t have to hope for independence
anymore. He has conquered Guillian-Barre and has taken back the reins of his
life.
In my opinion, Seth Burk is a remarkable young man. He will continue to
touch people’s hearts and inspire others the way he inspired me. He wishes to
share his story to the world and let others know that hope is what got him where
he is today and that everyone can overcome their toughest battles.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional Information:
None.
No comments:
Post a Comment