'You can do it': An MS patient's journey to the P.E.I. Marathon

BlakeHurdiswanted to do something "that nobody would expect an MS patient to do."

The 36-year-old will be one of the many participants in the15thannual P.E.I. Marathon this fall despite the fact a year ago he couldn't even walk.

• P.E.I. Marathon met with good weather, 'uplifting' crowds
• Thousands hit the streets for P.E.I. Marathon

Hurdis, who lives in Smith Falls, Ont., had amultiple sclerosisattack in February 2017, and it started offas other attacks had been for him,he said, with "numbness and tingling."

At one time he wasused toat least three to four attacks a year, but this particular attack was different than the others.

"It quickly progressed to having cerebral spasms, which is just a really nice way of saying your brain is having a seizure," he said.

"It sort of shut my body down. I couldn't walk, I couldn't even crawl. Being on my knees for me was too high.I would have to pull myself around my houseon my hands and just try to make do."

Needed a bone marrow transplant

Hurdis, who is originally from the U.S.,was first diagnosed with MS in 2007, he said. Hissymptoms began to showwhile he was deployed to Iraq with the U.S. military.

He endured several hard years, with doctors trying to figure out how his particular MS worked, he said.

For a while his body began to settle and he felt better, but one day, unexpectedly, it came back worse than ever.

After the attack in February last year, he was put on chemotherapy to keep his immune system suppressed, he said, and eventually needed a bone marrow transplant.

That procedure took place in November 2017 and what followed was a long road to recovery.

Road to recovery and the P.E.I. Marathon

Though he'd been active and fit most of his life, recovering from the transplantwas no easy feat at all.

With the procedure done, the following months of recoverywere very slow, and trying physically, mentally and emotionally, he said.

"There's a few months at the very beginning of recovery that are incredibly tough," he said.

"Once you start to heal, once you start to recover, it's slow but there are opportunities for you to push yourself. Maybe not everyday, because you're very tired, but you can start to push yourself to be better."

I wanted to show that you can do it. That it is possible. Blake Hurdis

He began to push himself more, walking, running and building up stamina. After some time a friend asked him to run in the P.E.I. Marathon.

"I thought about it for a few days and I thought 'yeah I could do that,'" he said.

He plans to be running in the P.E.I. Marathon on his37thbirthday October14th.

"I wanted to do something that nobody would expect an MS patient to do," he said."I wanted to show that you can do it. That it is possible."

More P.E.I. news