Photo courtesy of William Nystrom William Nystrom was diagnosed with MS 16 years ago but it hasn’t stopped him.

“All the people did was complain about one thing after another,” said Nystrom, a Belmont resident of seven years. “You had people in walkers, wheel chairs and with animal companions. It was just depressing. I vowed never to go back.”

Instead, Nystrom made a promise to himself that no one was going to look at him and think he was “sick” or had a debilitating disease. And with a couple of exceptions — like the time when Nystrom had double vision and had to use an eye patch and walking cane for a two and a half week period in 2006 — no one can look at Nystrom and see weakness. After all, Nystrom, 43, is a sculpted 6-foot, 163 pounds, with less than eight percent body fat.

He regularly competes in ultra-endurance events, including marathons, half-marathons, road stage cycling events (50 miles or more) and triathlons. On June 8, Nystrom won the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in his category, the physically challenged division. He completed the 1.5-mile swim, 18-mile bike ride and 8-mile run in 3 hours, 2 minutes, 24 seconds, placing 637th overall out of about 2,000 competitors.

“Winning ranks pretty high up there among my accomplishments,” said Nystrom, who also won the Pacific Grove Triathlon last year. “Being able to compete is infectious. There’s a sense of excitement I can’t explain.”

It’s a wonder Nystrom looks and feels like a rock. Multiple sclerosis is a progressive and degenerative disorder that affects nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord, resulting in periodic muscle weakness, numbness, pain and vision loss — and that’s for the lucky ones. Nystrom knew something was wrong in his mid to late 20s when at times he would lose feeling from the waist down.

“That and the fact that I was running 20 seconds off my best 5K times,” said Nystrom, who used to regularly finish 10K races in 37 to 38 minutes. “Before getting diagnosed I felt invincible.”

But when MS came along, Nystrom nearly fell apart. He stopped racing for seven years, but still trained vigorously. He often wondered why he was put in such a dire situation, as MS struck him in the prime of his athletic career.

“When I first got diagnosed things were going down,” he said. “It got the best of me in the sense I took that depression and focused it on other things in my life to the point where I probably damaged relations and to myself to some extent.”

Nystrom was headed down the wrong path but found joy when her daughter, Emilie, now 10, was born. Nystrom had Emilie from a previous marriage, and re-married a couple of years ago.

“When my daughter was born it was a real slap in the face,” he said. “It woke me up and made me realize that I actually needed to grow up in a sense, and that there was more to life than exercise. In a way the whole period was like a grieving process. I chose to grieve by exercising come hell or high water, consequences be damned. I used to drive my ex-wife nuts by going to the gym at the most inopportune time. I became an exercise addict and obsessed with training to overcompensate for my condition, and that was my way of coping.”

Nystrom is a man on a mission. He dreams of one day competing in the Ironman Hawaii, the sport’s premier event. But unless the Ironman changes it rules to allow athletes with MS to compete in the physically challenged qualifier to gain entry into he main race, Nystrom will have little or no chance of gaining a spot in the event. Nystrom hopes the attention he’s received from his latest victory catapults his cause to get the Ironman and other racing organizations to widen the qualifications for the physically challenged, because some organizations like the Challenged Athletes Foundation and Paraolympics only recognize athletes who have lost limbs.

“I have a disease that prohibits me from being competitive (with “normal” athletes),” he said.

Nystrom’s long-term future looks good. He can live with MS indefinitely, though his condition can always worsen on a moment’s notice. Nystrom said his doctor, Eric Denys, is convinced that he’s been able to manage his condition well and lead close to a normal life as possible because of his training and active lifestyle. Nystrom might make it look easy, but things couldn’t be further from the truth.

“People who I don’t know tend to look at me and say ‘Wow, you don’t look sick. You look normal.’” he said. “That’s the problem — I’m not normal. In the past I’ve lost my eyesight for several weeks at a time and lost feeling in my arm to the point where I couldn’t pick up a skillet.”

Even though Nystrom isn’t the athlete he once was — father time tends to get the best of everyone — Nystrom is a happier athlete today because he appreciates things he once took for granted. Most importantly, Nystrom is achieving the goals he set out when he first got diagnosed with MS.

“I think I’m at the point where I’m managing MS well enough to be a success story,” he said. “I’m doing activities where most people who are healthy can’t do. I think anybody who has a disability and goes out there and competes is incredible. I keep trying to inspire people. One of my goals was to prove that just because you have a disease with no cure doesn’t mean you have to be stuck on the couch and let the disease control you.”

Mission accomplished.

Emanuel Lee can be reached by e-mail: emanuel@smdailyjournal.com, or (650) 344 5200, ext. 109.