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Moments after Kim Gaston enters the pool, she is cutting through the water and looking entirely comfortable. Her placid demeanor and status as the first adult to break 200,000 meters at the Ramstein Aquatic Center make it hard to believe that as recently as December 2011, she struggled to make it across the pool.
“It was exhausting initially, but after a few weeks I was swimming 3 to 4,000 meters a day,” Gaston said. “I didn’t concentrate on how long it took me, it was just about getting across the pool — one step at a time, one lap at a time.”
Gaston was driven by the same goals that cause many people to start fitness regimens — to lose weight, increase her fitness level and adapt a healthier lifestyle. What caused her to stick with it was the impact of living healthier and fighting multiple sclerosis.
After living with the condition for seven years, she began to realize that medication, however effective, would not be enough. Though she had minimal symptoms for the first five years after her diagnosis in 2003, the disease has cast a longer, darker shadow across her life in recent years.
“I was doing extremely well, and then my husband deployed in 2008, and the stress of having him gone for a really long time brought on a relapse and it caused a cervical-spinal lesion, which caused tingling in my whole body, a burning sensation in my back and my left leg became kind of numb and very weak,” Gaston said.
MS occurs when the body’s immune system attacks the myelin sheath surrounding axons, which nerve cells use to communicate, and can cause scar tissue (lesions) on the brain and spinal chord, limiting neurological function. A majority of sufferers, Gaston included, have the relapsing-remitting subtype of MS, she said. A relapse can be characterized by a period of attack where scar tissue is developing.
As relapses began to occur, Gaston learned she had to do more to endure and/or prevent them. But first, she dismayed.
“I kept getting depressed because with every relapse, it was more confirmation that, ‘Hey, you have an incurable disease, and it’s not going anywhere.’ So I turned to food and gained a significant amount of weight. After a few more relapses I figured I had better do something soon,” she said.
Gaston read that being physically fit helped in fighting against MS, and that if the attacks weakened muscular function, it was imperative to have “the least possible amount of weight to carry around.”
Her son Bobby, a high school student and member of the Kaiserslautern Kingfish swim team, encouraged her to get into the pool. Even though she hadn’t swam a lap since being on the swim team in sixth grade, she knew she had to act. Swimming also made sense since it was a way to be active without raising the body’s core temperature, a factor that can contribute to relapse.
In November 2011, she decided to combine two projects: the Southside Fitness Center’s Biggest Loser Competition and the aquatic center’s Swim Challenge. A little more than six months later, Gaston has achieved success. She won the Biggest Loser Competition, dropping more than 40 pounds, and she reached 200,000 meters in the pool. She admits to changing eating habits only slightly, and credits swimming with the dramatic change.
“It took me two or three weeks to swim 200 meters without just dying,” she said. “But soon I was swimming 3,000 to 4,000 meters a day and the weight was literally falling off me.”
Gaston also took her resting heart rate down to 64 beats per minute, and strengthened her left leg to the point where it is almost equal in function to the right one. More to the point, her last MRI showed no new lesions.
“I really have great hope for the future,” Gaston said. “When I was diagnosed, I cried for three days. But at this point, I am doing exceptionally well.”
The aquatic center staff was encouraging, from the front desk to the lifeguards. Gaston said everyone took time to check on her progress and encourage her along the way. Known for his positivity, aquatic programmer Brian Stephens was no exception.
“The staff has been really great. And then Brian was just fantastic. Every time I was swimming he would come by and give me a high five and ask me how many meters I had swam that day, and this was just such a motivating factor. I absolutely adore the staff,” Gaston said.
Stephens said Gaston exemplifies what the aquatic center is all about.
“We are here to help people not only enjoy themselves, but enjoy the benefits of a healthier lifestyle. When we see someone working toward improving their fitness, we feel like their success is our success. Kim is a great example of that. Seeing her doing what she’s doing makes us want to come to work every day,” he said. “And she’s not the only one. We have a number of people who are following her toward these distance goals. It’s great to see.”
Several other swimmers have recently passed the 100,000-meter mark for 2012: Lt. Col. John Walton, Dr. Julie Gorsky, Dennis and Elaine Edwards, and Lt. Col. Dave Wetlesen.
Those goals are continuing to stretch out. Gaston said she hopes to reach 300,000 meters before summer is over, and half a million meters by year’s end. She also hopes that her story can serve to encourage others to get in the water, and to show that not all stories about MS are negative.
“I try to encourage people to go to the pool and not to let excuses keep them from taking action on self-improvement,” Gaston said. “When I started, I spent a lot of money on a swim dress to conceal my problem areas. Then I got out there and I realized no one cared what I looked like, they were all out there to swim, just like me. Now I admire those people just starting out. They inspire me.”
They, in-turn, might be inspired by Gaston. Her comfort in the water is a testament to the fitness and confidence that early hard work has achieved — so is her beaming smile.
