by
Claude Poumerol
(former
World Record Holder (88-95) Womens BK 100 meter
sprint)
In 1964, at
the age of 16, I was the youngest member ever on
the French Olympic track team. All my life I had
loved to run, play games, chase friends and fly
like the wind. To train, secretly at night, I
had to jump the wall that separated the Catholic
girl's boarding school from the boy's school
next door. They had the only track!
The trial to
qualify for the team were held in Paris. When I
lined up to run, I didn't even have the
appropriate spikes. A kind runner lent me her
spare pair. Coaches and of officials were
wondering who this scrawny kid was. They found
out 100 meters later. I was not only the
scrawniest, I was the fastest! I was going to
the Olympics Games in Tokyo.
On a beautiful
Sunday, two weeks before leaving for the Games,
I asked my father to take me for a drive to
enjoy the freedom and excitement I felt because
my dream had come true. It was not to be. A
drunk driver suddenly came around a corner, head
on. When I woke from a coma three months later I
learned I might never walk again. And that my
father had been killed.
I did learn to
walk again with the aid of crutches then a cane.
After graduating from La Sorbonne, I came to
Canada, married and had two children.
In 1985 cancer
overtook my left leg. Several amputations
followed starting at the ankle and ending just
below the knee. It was at the time Steve Fonyo
was running across Canada. He inspired me, as
had earlier another young amputee I had met,
Terry Fox, and then later another found another
friend in Rick Hansen. All three inspired me to
pursue my ill-fated running career interrupted
twenty-one years before.
Three months
after the last operation I challenged the Mayor
of Nanaimo, British Columbia, where I was living
at the time, to a marathon run to raise money
for cancer research. Together we raised $20,000.
To top it all I ran the final miles into
Victoria with Steve Fonyo.
For me the
rest is history. Three years of intensive
training with able-bodied athletes in Calgary
and world class competition culminated in a Gold
and silver medal in the 100 and 200 meter
sprints at the 1988 Paralympics in Seoul, Korea.
From 1988 to l995 I held the world record in the
100 meter event and still have the world record
in the 200 meter event. My 1964 dream had
finally come true!
But this type
of intensive training. (read wear-and-tear on my
stump and body), did not come without a price. A
price in pain.
After Seoul it
was time to get on with making a living as a
motivational speaker and as I was to learn,
living in pain. When you train at a high level
you expect some aches and pains, but through
repetition you don't notice that much, or ignore
the pain for the ultimate goal. Not so in daily
living.
I began to
experience phantom limb pain much more
frequently than before. My usual remedy was to
transfer the pain to the other foot by applying
equal or more pain by manually squeezing the
other foot until relief came. This would work at
home, but imagine me taking off my shoe and
squeezing my foot in public
One day in
early 1994 on a visit to my prosthetist, Tony
van der Waarde, I was venting my frustrations on
not being able to deal more effectively with the
phantom pain better and earlier. He told me
about a new alternative pain relief system
called Farabloc.
Tony had a
sample of Farabloc which looks and feels like an
ordinary piece of linen but contains extremely
thin steel fibres. The sample he gave me was
about the size of a large handkerchief. I took
it home and upon my first hint of phantom pain I
wrapped it around my stump. Lo and behold the
pain was caught in the bud! I didn't need to
squeeze and I didn't have to take a pain-killer
pill!
Shortly after
that I met the inventor of Farabloc, Frieder-
Kempe. He explained to me how Farabloc through
its shielding effect protects damaged nerve
endings. It stimulates blood circulation and
aids muscle relaxation and can be applied for
muscle strain and some arthritic pains. A
seamless stump sock of Farabloc was made for me
so I could wear it full time or whenever an
attack of phantom pain announced
itself.
Interestingly,
I've noticed that since I received the sock,
even though I don t wear it all the time, the
frequency of phantom pain has
diminished.
Recently I was
diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, an incurable
disease that causes severe pain in the joints
plus daily exhaustion. This unfortunate
development has been attributed to the strain of
extreme over exertion in my training for the
sprint events. Some other complications have
also contributed to the onset of
Fibromyalgia.
Medication has
been prescribed. To add to that, I'll be using a
larger blanket of Farabloc on my shoulders and
back, where most of the pain is
centred.
I'll be the
first to let you know the results!
Claude Poumerol
Motivational Speaker
Gold and Silver Medal Winner
1988 Seoul Paralympics
For more
information on Farabloc
please visit their WEB Site
