PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY HASN'T KEPT GRANT WHITNEY FROM SKIING

Grant Whitney was a skier for nearly sixty years. Though he was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy in 1997, he didn't let it keep him off the slopes. Through adaptation to accommodate his condition and a treatment that had worked well for him, he was able to continue with a sport he loved.

Grant learned how to Ski at Frank Buckley's Eskimo Ski Club in Denver, Colorado, in the winter of 1948. They would gather at the Rail Station in Denver early AM to board the ski train and head for the Winter Park Ski Area. The ski area was at that time an extension of the City of Denver Park System. Students progressed in their abilities through the efforts of their instructors, and their grading depended on the times (time) they recorded on the race courses the instructors set up for the students to challenge their skills. Grant learned that just pointing your skis down the hill got you down quickest.

Denver people at that time had generations of their families who had learned to ski at Frank's school. As a matter of fact, Grant's three kids learned there when Grant and his family took a ski vacation with them sometime in the early 70s when they lived in Lincoln, Nebraska.

In the summer of 49, Grant worked on Garrison Dam in northern North Dakota. He earned enough money to buy a 37 Ford, which helped him get a job with some of his friends at the Loveland Pass Ski area where he worked until he skied into a log fence and split his left eyebrow open requiring surgery to repair. Grant does not recommend skiing into log fences, and has since avoided them.

Grant and his parents moved from Colorado to Ainsworth, Nebraska. It was his dad's hometown, and his parents lived there and owned the drug store. Grant's father started a construction company, and Grant went to the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. There he met his wife, Barbara. After marriage and graduation, they stayed in Ainsworth till 1966. They then had an opportunity to move to Lincoln and took it. Lincoln is a big city with many more job opportunities.

They found opportunities and took advantage of them and decided to retire somewhere with one of the top priorities being skiing, but not living in the snow. They finally settled on somewhere between Tahoe and Sacramento and after driving around a bit found a lot. The next year, they bought a house, and then in 1981 moved out from Lincoln to Meadow Vista, California, (near Auburn) to begin a new life. That ski season, they skied on Halloween and then on the following July 4th. They thought we had died and gone to skiers' heaven.

They started a wood-burning stove distribution company in 1981 and sold it in 1995. In the interim, they designed and built the home of their dreams, which they sold in February of 2007. When they sold the business, they could really focus on skiing. They began as regular Boreal ticket holders, which allowed them to ski at Alpine Meadows with the same passes after Boreal closed until Alpine finally closed. During the Boreal/Alpine end of the 90s era, they skied as many as 50 times a season. After they turned 70 in 2001 and 2002, they were eligible for first free passes and then $25 season passes at Sugar bowl so that is where they've skied since.

Grant was diagnosed With PN in 1997. He didn't have any real consequences until he began to have what he calls occasional "face plants" for no apparent reason. A "face plant" is where he ends up on the ground, usually face first. After a serious one on the main run at Boreal in which his face, wrist, thumb and ribs were banged up, he took some action. He decided that he really had PN and his feet really didn't know where they were going. Therefore, they would cross and down he would go. So he sold his 2 pair of Rossignols which were over 180s and bought a pair of 165 Dynastars Intuitives.

He figured he needed to do everything he could to keep from crossing his tips, so he skied with at least a foot between the skis. This worked really well and the face plants stopped. Then Grant encountered Ralph Snow and Anodyne Therapy Systems. Grant filled in for our PN Grass Valley support group leader when Ralph was the speaker. He asked those at the meeting to introduce themselves and tell how PN affected their lives. When it was Grant's turn, he just mentioned changing ski length.

After the meeting, Ralph told Grant about the Anodyne program and how Dr. Gilbrech, Grant's podiatrist, would test him for PN. If his PN was confirmed, the doctor would put me on a treatment program and at the end, if he had showed improvement in control, he could buy a home unit and continue the treatment there. Grant did all of the above, and continued to use the Anodyne Therapy unit. He could ski with his skis together, if he chose. He also skied an occasional black diamond run. All this was made possible, Grant asserted, because of Ralph Snow and Anodyne Therapy.

Peripheral neuropathy will change your life, and may eliminate some things you used to do. But you may find ways to adjust your approach and perhaps a treatment that will help significantly. Persevere in hope, because PN is not the end, and there is help.