Back in 2014, Michael Ring was planning a 100-mile bike ride through Putnam County when he began noticing troubling symptoms — frequent stumbles, dropping objects, and losing balance. His supervisor, a cancer survivor, urged him to see a doctor immediately.
That advice likely saved his life.
Ring, now 61, was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological disorder where the immune system attacks the nerves. The condition left him temporarily paralyzed and hospitalized for 135 days, during which he had to relearn how to walk.
Fast forward a decade: Ring is now gearing up to run the TCS New York City Marathon again, a race he first attempted as a high school senior in the early 1980s. Despite physical challenges and wearing carbon fiber ankle braces, he continues to take part — though at a much slower pace — supported by Achilles International volunteers who guide him through the 26.2-mile journey.
«I’ll start 40 minutes ahead of the elite runners, and they’ll all pass me,» Ring shared. “My guides act like blockers to protect me from getting bumped.”
Ring’s first attempt at the NYC Marathon ended at mile 16. He ran without training and collapsed after drinking too much water. But he returned to the sport in the early ’90s and ran the marathon yearly from 1993 to 2013, even setting a personal best of 4 hours and 11 minutes.
In 2014, Ring traveled to Boston to watch the marathon there — the first since the tragic 2013 bombing. After a meal at a small barbecue joint, he developed a severe case of food poisoning. That bout, likely caused by Campylobacter bacteria, led to his Guillain-Barré diagnosis, as the bacteria is one of the leading triggers of the condition.
His variant — acute motor axonal neuropathy — is particularly aggressive, causing rapid and severe muscle weakness. Ring underwent intensive treatments including IV immunoglobulin therapy, off-label chemotherapy, and extensive physical rehabilitation.
“Doctors would tell me to move my toes, and I’d look at them and say, ‘Why are you even asking? I just can’t,’” he recalled.
Since then, he’s undergone around 10 surgeries, had his toes reshaped to better grip
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Image Source : nypost.com