Deb Campbell tries to go running for at least an hour every day.
“I woke up one morning and just had this desire to start running,” said the Red Deer mother of two who has been training for marathons for the past 11 years.
“I wanted to be a good role model for the kids and more active, more involved in the outdoors. Then, it was just like I’d caught the running bug.”
She hasn’t stopped since.
Even when she was diagnosed with severe arthritis seven years ago at the age of 37, Campbell keep lacing up her sneakers. She’s participated in over 30 races.
It was no easy feat, said Campbell, the assistant manager at Wild Mountain, especially when she temporarily lost the use of her left leg just six short months after the diagnosis.
“It was awful . . . The disease is debilitating,” she said.
“When your kids have to help you out of the bathtub, or your husband has to help you do your hair and your friends are coming over to help you dress in the mornings — that’s arthritis. It’s not popping a couple ibuprofen and you’re good to go.”
Campbell was initially diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, a searing inflammation of the joints and skin.
Her hands started to get extremely sore so she went into see the doctor who immediately knew it was arthritis.
It quickly progressed to the joints in her shoulders, knees and hips.
A year later she was also diagnosed with another type of arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis, which affects the spine.
Everyday there is pain, said Campbell, though some days are better than others. She said she found running helped more versus walking as it kept the fluid moving in her joints
“It’s like, take a really big kitchen knife, heat it up to like 120 C and stick it right in your knee socket.
“It’s a hot burning hurt — you’d put a blanket on your legs and it hurt, you couldn’t move because it hurt.”
But, she’s not one to sit on her “laurels and say woe is me.”
Husband Scott Campbell calls his wife a fighter who doesn’t quit.
“It’s amazing to see how many people she’s inspired to keep moving forward,” he said.
In September 2011 Campbell went for a run and barely made it back to the house.
Her rheumatologist told her she had to get off her legs. She spent the next three months in a wheel chair until finally she said she’d had enough.
“We set up a treadmill in the basement and I slowly got myself walking and running again,” said Campbell. “It wasn’t easy — I often tell people I’d rather give birth 50 babies than go through that again,” she jokes.
A few months later she was back on her feet and began Learn to Run programs out of Wild Mountain, which trains amateurs for marathons.
Today she’s training for multiples races including the annual 125-km Great Canadian Death Race to take place in Grande Cache in August.
She’s also prepping to bring Red Deer its first fundraising run for arthritis research this September, aspiring to make it an annual event. She hopes to raise $50,000 for the Arthritis Society and its Joints in Motion program, which allows athletes to fundraise for arthritis while travelling the world for marathons.
“When I was diagnosed, I really wanted to take what I’d been dealt and put a face to it, to make it count,” she added. “It’s not just about me.”
According to Campbell, 1 in 5 people have an autoimmune disease. The difficult thing is, nobody can tell. In a way, it’s an invisible disease, which creates some problems when it comes to raising awareness, said Campbell.
Does she see herself as a marathon hero championing the voice of those with arthritis?
“I’m just Deb,” she laughs. “Just living the best life I can live.”
rfrancoeur@www.reddeeradvocate.com