June 20, 2008
Quadriplegic Woman Attempts Solo Sail
BY: Emily Fisher
I heard a truly remarkable story yesterday evening on NPR, the kind that made me stop my idle puttering to listen. Hilary Lister is attempting a solo sail around the British Isles, which she expects will take three to four months. The twist: She’s quadriplegic — able to move only her head, eyes, and mouth. She uses straws to sail the boat. After being diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy and gradually losing all movement in her limbs, she considered euthanasia via morphine. Then she discovered sailing.Lister says, “The motion of the boat is the only sort of motion I feel that isn’t painful.” Talk about the healing power of the sea…[Image: John Stilwell/PA Wire via www.npr.org]
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