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Fighting Fit Fifties

Posted on: Monday, 25 July 2005, 12:00 CDT

When middle age first hits, many of us will succumb to an expanding waistline and failing fitness.

But keeping in good shape could save your life when you least expect it. AUDREY FORBES met fitness fanatic grandad-of-five Alan Kilding to find out more.

GRANDAD Alan Kilding has always been fitness mad.

His love for keeping active began in his thirties with feverish games of five-a-side football and hammering the squash courts.

The hobby grew into a genuine love bordering on obsession, with regular runs and hard sessions at the gym.

As his 54th birthday approached, Alan was still pounding the streets daily whether it was a marathon or a five-mile "jog".

And he steamed through gym training sessions five times a week.

Until he was struck down with a brain haemorrhage two years ago.

He was just 500 metres into a 20-mile organised run one month ahead of the London Marathon.

The 2003 race was the culmination of months of training and was a test to see how fit Alan really was.

But the bleed on his brain left him paralysed down his right side and hospitalised for three weeks.

Now 56, he says: "I came out of hospital and it was a long haul to recovery.

"It was devastating as I had to start from scratch. I had to learn to walk again."

The Butterwick Hospice volunteer began five weeks of physio before he started going to gentle fitness classes.

"They could see I wanted to get better and was doing my classes.

"Some people just give up but I consider myself quite fortunate compared to others."

As months of unrelenting dedication to improving his mobility passed, the father-of-three was fit enough to return to his beloved gym.

He began doing light workouts which he has built up to three times a week.

T'ai Chi classes followed six months later, which Alan now attends twice a week.

"I find it relaxing and soothing and it helps me mentally," he says.

The movement in his leg has come back more so than in his arm.

"I'm right handed and although I can move it now there's lots of things I can't do."

Tying his shoe laces, shaving and picking up a cup of tea are a challenge for Alan.

His speech returned in the days after the haemorrhage, but now if he gets excited or has a couple of drinks it affects the way he talks. But he remains upbeat.

"Generally it's not a problem really," he says.

Alan had regular health MoTs at Well Man clinics from the age of 40. They showed he was fit and healthy. The haemorrhage came out of the blue. "Even now when I get a quiet moment I think 'why me'? Had I had a medical saying high cholesterol or something I could understand," he says.

Alan believes the brain haemorrhage was a warning. He was working 12-hour shifts as a night porter at Butterwick and cramming in as much exercise as possible along the way.

"When I look back I was doing too much."

But it was his fitness that saved him from a worse fate.

"Some people might think 'you did all that exercise then you had a brain haemorrhage.'

"But I was told by someone at the hospital if I hadn't been so fit it could have been curtains for me."

The road to recovery has been a long one but the grandfather-of- five refuses to let it change his love of exercise.

"Until someone tells me I'm not going to get any better I'll keep fighting it.

"It's only made me more determined to carry on doing what I love."

And he has passed on his love of fitness and running to his eldest son, Andrew, who is studying for a PhD in Sports Science at Auckland University in New Zealand.

The 29-year-old completed the Great North Run in 2 hours 6 minutes when he was just ten and has run for the North of England Junior Team and the Universities of Teesside and Leeds, to name a few.

Even Alan's wife Hilda, 56, is flying the flag for over-fifties women with regular yoga and light workouts at the gym.

"Exercise is like a lot of things - you get what you put into it," says Alan.

"As I've got older I've felt it has benefited me more and feel more inclined to do it."

The former policeman loves his food and believes obesity in the region could be banished if people would only take up exercise.

"People should look after themselves, especially as they get older.

"It's never too late to take up suitable exercise."

The stroke volunteer buddy now crams gardening and regular walks into his active lifestyle as well as learning computers.

"I could have sat down two years ago and let life pass me by. But life's too short."

He is spurred on by a steely determination to run again one day.

"The exercise I have done since the haemorrhage has only made me stronger.

"Hopefully this may help someone physically or mentally who has been in a similar situation to me."

Source: Evening Gazette - Middlesbrough

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