Durango – Ian Altman knows he has it made.
The 33-year-old is an outdoor- sports fanatic and takes every opportunity to climb, ski and bike. He teaches art and climbing to teens at Colorado Timberline Academy, a boarding school in the north Animas Valley, so he actually gets paid to do the things he loves.
But what has made his life full, he says, was the diagnosis at age 24 of multiple sclerosis.
“For me, it’s been a gift,” he says. “I just have this motivation. I can’t sit back and let a good day go by.
Multiple sclerosis, which affects an estimated 400,000 Americans, is a chronic progressive disease of the central nervous system in which the substance insulating nerves, called myelin, is damaged or destroyed. Affected nerves cannot transmit electrical impulses to and from the brain. Symptoms can range from mild numbness to pain, paralysis or seizures. The disease can blur vision, cause dizziness and induce fatigue.
Colorado has one of the highest MS rates in the country. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society reports that one in 580 Coloradans has the disease. The national average is one in 1,000.
Altman has the most common form of MS, relapsing or remitting, which is characterized by partial or total recovery after attacks.
“I went through denial when I got the diagnosis. I didn’t want to believe it,” he says. “I thought, ‘They don’t even know exactly what MS is, so how do they know for sure I have it?’ I avoided taking medicine.”
He relied instead on a healthy diet, cardiovascular fitness and alternative treatments, such as acupuncture. And he didn’t give up the outdoor pursuits he loved.
He says he developed a determination because of the disease to do everything he wants as soon and as often as possible.
“My friends sometimes have a hard time understanding why I just have to keep going, to ski one more hour,” he says. “They’re tired. But I’m thinking the snow is good and who knows what next year will bring.”
Sometimes after a hard climb, he would find himself limping, dragging a foot. During a climbing trip in Patagonia several years ago, he noticed the heavy toll on his body.
“MS can make you feel detached from your body. … It was becoming obvious I needed to really deal with MS.”
But events overtook him.
He says he can’t remember if he was 28 or 29 when he fell 50 feet in a climbing accident.
He landed on his heels, breaking both and exploding his right heel. He broke his back but suffered no paralysis.
In addition to treatment for his injuries and maintaining his own healthy regimen, he began taking medication for MS, an injected drug called Copaxone.
When, months later, he got out of his wheelchair and back brace, he noticed an obvious change.
“I could ski better than the last year,” he says.
Altman concluded he simply had started the right drug therapy for him.
“He always talks about MS in a positive way,” says fellow academy teacher Marianna Waroblak. “He’s suffered so much but just keeps going. He is such an inspiration to the kids.”
One of those kids, Ian Emerson, puts it this way: “Ian Altman can be defined as a pretty radical dude.”
Last winter, on a return climbing trip to Patagonia to challenge Cerro Fitzroy and the region’s other granitic giants, Altman’s legs felt stronger and he didn’t have much pain in his heels.
“I was totally invigorated,” he says. “I’ll get numb in the backs of legs and arms walking around town doing errands. But in the mountains, skiing or climbing, I don’t.”
Altman says there are many people like him who live each day to the fullest because of the disease, not in spite of it.
“The things I’ve learned to do, the wisdom I’ve gained, never would have happened without MS,” he says. “I want to help the newly diagnosed, who are so confused and alone. It’s not a sentence. It can be a gift.”
Staff writer Electa Draper can be reached at 970-385-0917 or at edraper@denverpost.com.
