Story

For Vincent Richer in 2003, increasingly morbid obesity combined with osteoarthritis had become a prison sentence, a frightening trap in which this forty three year-old, 410 pound man was barely able to walk, no longer able to use public transit, and had resigned himself to spending his life in the confines of his bedroom.

Burdened by overweight symptoms most of his life, this prolonged downward spiral had very serious psychological effects. “Why, all of a sudden, am I no longer able to carry my heavy load? The slower and slower I got, the more isolated I felt, eroding an already fragile confidence in myself and in the future.”

Vincent had reached out to most of the normal channels – diets, exercise regimes, physiotherapy, and counseling, but nothing would work for any length of time. According to Vincent, “People who are obese tend to experience life from a radius just outside the range of our bodies. We feel well protected inside our cocoon, and that’s a significant part of why we get so big. When you eat, you subconsciously think ‘Oh, good, more stuff to store…’ and it is common to finish a day by eating three or four thousand calories before heading to bed.”

A chance visit to Healthpartners agency the Arthritis Society was the catalyst for a remarkable turnaround for the Federal public service employee, and the information he found helped him decide to visit his neighbourhood swimming pool.

“In the pool, I instantly stopped fighting with gravity, and my weight became a non-issue, helping me feel refreshed, alive, and able to do exercises in the water. Exercises led to laps, laps led to a commitment to swim, and the next thing I knew I had lost close to one hundred pounds and I could spring confidently up the ladder out of the pool.

For Mr. Richer, swimming opened up a door for competitive distance swimming, and he committed to eight 5 kilometer swims for an four-day period in the “Foresters’ Big Swim for The Arthritis Society. Vincent finished in second place, raising over $4000 in pledges. He has since moved on to other successful distance swimming events, including an incredible 100 km/10 day swim, each one raising money for the cause he believes has saved his life.

“Today I swim five to ten times a week and I no longer have the range of motion restrictions that I had. I am rebuilding muscles around the joints, and all signs of arthritis are gone. Once again, I can envisage life as a series of ‘firsts’."

“I sincerely believe that if the Arthritis Society hadn’t marshalled theirs efforts – if they hadn’t created the information environment that reached out and challenged me - mine could be a story of shame, stereotyped by society as failure for being unable to exercise control. They gave me a new lease on life by giving me that little nudge toward the pool, and a commitment to health.”