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Quadriplegic's amazing race
5/5/2014 7:25:53 PM
- Hilary Lister had decided to take her own life back in 2003 but then took up sailing
- The quadriplegic's passion for the high seas has, she says, given her a reason to live
- Able bodied in her youth, her degenerative disease has seen her lose movement
- She sails using straws and her dream voyage is to travel solo across the Atlantic
(CNN) -- Hilary Lister had had the difficult conversation with her husband -- a few times in fact. The quadriplegic had finally made the decision to end her life, had prepared to say goodbyes to Clifford and the rest of her family.
"It got to a point where I evaluated my life," Lister told CNN. "I had to decide whether the space that I take up on the sofa [which unable to move she had done for hours and days on end] was still worth inhabiting.
"I came to the conclusion t wasn't. I was at a very, very low point.
"I knew if and when my condition got any worse I would end my life. That was a decision myself and my husband were both aware of. You don't make that decision on your own, you have to prepare yourself."
It was to be a pre-ordained death with rules.
"Basically, I wouldn't allow myself to take my tablets any more if I got much worse or got depressed or whatever," Lister added.
"But I also set parameters to make sure that it wasn't a spur of the moment thing. I have wonderful friends and family, who made sure they did everything to make sure my life was worth living."
For all their collective positivity, though, nothing worked, until a friend lured Lister to an outing on the water at Westbere Sailing Club, her local club in southern England.
"It wouldn't overstate it to say that sailing saved my life," said Lister.
"It just gave me a little glimmer of thinking that space I was taking up on the sofa was worth inhabiting after all, particularly as someone had managed to get me off it to get on the water.
"It was like 'gosh, I've found a reason to live.'"
That was 11 years ago.
Since that Damascene conversion she has sailed single handed across the English Channel, circumnavigated Great Britain and most recently sailed the 1,500 kilometers across the Arabian Sea from Mumbai to Muscat, her first proper offshore expedition.
It made her the first paralyzed women to complete the voyage while also on board was Omani yachtswoman Nashwa Al Kindi, the first Arab woman to complete the trip.
Muscle waiting disease
Lister suffers from reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a muscle wasting disease caused by a genetic blip that now prevents her from using her arms and legs.
With her sole movement in her head, Lister's boat for that voyage -- a 28-ft Dragonfly trimaran -- was rigged up for her to sail it using innovative methods originally designed in the United States.
"I have three straws with which you register positive or negative pressure - so puff or suck," she explains.
"That turns the winch one way or the other. The magic thing on the latest trip is that I was able to turn port and starboard in opposite directions at the same time thanks to reversible winches and thus fully tack the boat rather than doing it slowly, slowly bit by bit."
The 41-year-old hasn't always lacked mobility and it wasn't until the age of 11 that she noticed there might be something awry.
"I came off the hockey pitch with really sore knees," she recalls. "I thought it was growing pains and would go away. By 13, it was hurting walking up and down stairs but again I thought it would go away."
In India getting ready to sail with Nashwa tomorrow from Mumbai to Muscat. Have had amazing help from our driver. pic.twitter.com/YEdB9ktxun
— Hilary Lister (@HilaryLister) March 10, 2014 It didn't. By the age of 17, she had lost the use of her legs, though she refused to give up on her ambition to become a biochemist -- an ambition she says she had from the age of three, which she achieved with a university degree followed by a PhD.
Working in a lab on her PhD she had to concentrate on not dropping things.
One day, though, three months of work and £12,000 worth of samples slipped out of her hands.
She never returned to the lab and a complex operation, which involved blood drained from her arms with an injection to stun painful nerve ends, did not work.
"Life isn't always straightforward," reflects Lister. "You just have to be grateful for what you have when you have it."
For her, that is out on the water.
"It's such a liberating place, it's where you feel free. Once on the boat I can sail it as well as anyone really. I can forget about work or home life, anything in fact.
"You just think about the next wave and the next puff of wind coming. The wheelchair's not there, I'm a sailor and it's a huge feeling of freedom.
"But it's more than that. It's there that the pain dissipates. It doesn't entirely go away, when you smack a wave, wow, I feel it. But it's like an itch, if there's something else, you forget about it."
Despite her lack of movement, Lister still suffers from crippling pain thought to be caused by one particular fully functioning problematic nerve that sends a feeling of immense pain, heat or cold coursing through her veins.
It's something that has to be treated with a daily diet of opiates and morphine, though the pain never properly vanishes.
It does not, however, stop her from planning new expeditions. There is one dream trip for Lister, who is sponsored by GAC Pindar, that hangs above all others.
"I want a longer crossing and I'm looking at something for next year.
"The dream would be to sail across the Atlantic -- it's something I've been thinking about and looking into for a long time. But we're quite a way off from getting to that point.
"People talk about the dangers but I have a safety boat with me in case I capsize. There are dangers certainly but it's about risk management. There are more people hurt riding horses each year than sailing."
It is such dreams that give Lister hope as she sits back on her sofa thinking of a myriad of oceans still to explore.
Read: F1 on water - the Extreme Sailing Series
Read: A drop in the ocean for stuntman sailor Alex Thomson
Can Spain kick out racist abuse?
5/5/2014 4:42:27 PM
- Levante's Papakouli Diop alleges racist abuse during Sunday's match against Atletico Madrid
- The Senegalese says he was subjected to monkey chants from Atletico fans
- Last week Barcelona's Dani Alves ate a banana thrown at him by a fan
- A leading anti-racism campaigner says racism is "endemic" within Spanish football
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(CNN) -- World and European champions on the football pitch, but blighted by "endemic" racism in the stands.
For the second week in a row, Spain is facing up to allegations of racist abusive chanting from supporters inside its football stadiums.
Last week it was Dani Alves who took a bite out of a banana hurled towards him by a fan during Barcelona's match at Villarreal, while Sunday Levante's Papakouli Diop opted to dance in front of his abusers during a match against Atletico Madrid, who will compete in this season's UEFA Champions League final against Real Madrid later in May.
"I was going to take a corner and some of the Atletico fans started making monkey chants," the Senegalese told reporters after Levante sealed a 2-0 win over the La Liga leaders.
"I don't have anything against Atletico's fans," he added. "It was just a part of them who did that to me and I wanted to explain that so people can know what happened.
"This monkey chants towards black players have to stop. And that's all."
A leading anti-racism campaigner is hoping Spain will respond to the publicity generated by the Alves incident, which struck a chord on social media, with a number of high-profile footballers, including his Brazilian teammate Neymar, posting pictures of themselves eating bananas along with the hashtag #weareallmonkeys.
"I expect quite a few incidents to come to light after the Alves banana issue," chief executive of anti-discrimination body Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) Piara Powar told CNN. "The problem really is endemic in Spain.
"We are pulling together some stakeholders in a roundtable at the end of the month in an attempt to get some action co-ordinated.
"It may be that after Alves there is finally some appetite to take the issue on."
Atletico declined to comment on the abuse directed at Diop but Spain's La Liga reacted Monday following the incident.
"The Professional League of Spanish Football (LFP) and, in particular, its Department of Integrity, is strongly against any discriminatory, violent, racist, xenophobic or intolerant act, especially in the environment of football and sports," read the statement.
"At this respect the LFP warns that it has been proposing before the Sports Anti-violence Commission sanctions for big or minor offenses according to the 2007 law against violence, xenophobia, racism and intolerance within sports regarding the last events that took place in some stadiums during the last days.
"In any case, the LFP will fight against this kind of behavior and announces that will impose compulsory training courses to the clubs associated to the LFP in order to prevent these events to happen again.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) made no comment to CNN, but it will investigate the incident on Wednesday, with the Ministry of Interior's Anti-violence National Commission examining the case on Thursday.
European football's governing body UEFA explained that, while it is committed to eradicating racism from football, it is the duty of national associations to handle cases that arise in domestic competitions.
"UEFA operates a zero tolerance policy towards racism and is against any kind of discrimination both on and off the pitch," read a statement from UEFA. "UEFA supports its member associations to combat racism in European football.
"We offer subsidies to the national associations to encourage them to set up anti-racism programs within their organizations, and we also ask them to take all necessary measures, including imposing disciplinary sanctions to eradicate these problems."
A series of high-profile incidents of racism led to world football's rulemakers FIFA introducing a number of sanctions.
The punishments for a first offense is a warning, fine or the club in question being forced to play games in empty stadiums.
A second offense, or one deemed "serious," could result in demotion, a deduction of points or expulsion from a tournament.
Read: Alves winning racism fight
Blog: Neymar -- Too cool for school?
Is there hope in Nigeria?
5/5/2014 6:57:22 PM
- Nigeria hits headlines because of kidnap of 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants
- The country is also hosting the World Economic Forum meeting this week
- Chude Jideonwo says Nigerians must maintain hope in difficult circumstances
- "Our eyes must be fixed on the stars, but our feet must stand firmly on the ground," he says
Editor's note: Chude Jideonwo is Managing Partner of Red Media Africa, the continent's largest portfolio of youth media brands. His book, "Are We The Turning Point Generation?" is out this month. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely his.
Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) -- If you are a young person living in Africa right now, it can be pretty confusing knowing what to believe: is it a hopeful place or is it trapped in a vicious cycle?
Is it the site of the world's fastest growing economies, or is it a place where more than 200 schoolgirls are kidnapped and held captive for two weeks with no hope of recovery?
On the one hand, much more than half of the employable young population is out of a job and there are many caught in wars and rumors of wars, from Sudan's two sides to the Central African Republic.
But on the other, there's growth and palpable excitement: Africa is the continent to watch; investment is pouring in for technology and a whole range of businesses both new and traditional, many countries boast impressive GDPs; democracy is solidifying, and with it free speech and citizen engagement, a flourishing sense of enterprise and a groundswell of creativity.
There is no greater symbol of this confusion than Nigeria at this exact moment.
On the one hand, we are the focus of the world, with our GDP rebased and our economy enjoying something of a rebirth; and yet on the other, we are the focus of the world, with bombs tearing through our nation's capital, and girls abducted in broad daylight by domestic terrorists.
With the World Economic Forum coming to Abuja this week, I see myself frenziedly planning alongside other Global Shapers across Lagos, Abuja and Kano to welcome the world to our country and to show its vast potential, looking forward to the sessions and the panels focused on inclusive growth and job creation.
At the same time I sit on the board of Enough is Enough Nigeria, which is passionately, angrily demanding that the world cancels the World Economic Forum on Africa to send a message to our lethargic president that he must find the 234 girls who have been missing for 18 days, and stop the violence that has taken the lives of over 1,500 in the north of Nigeria this year.
How can I be excited about going to Abuja next week for the Forum when a bomb just went off in the city's center?
Should I tweet #WEFAfrica, or #BringBackTheGirls?
Talk about schizophrenia.
I find myself confused, pulled in both directions. Yet I find both imperatives compelling, almost inevitable. I believe this is the most urgent challenge for young people like me, growing up in a time of great flux.
The world has so much faith in young Africans at the moment -- and with good reason; see what we've done with technology, the creative industries and civil society, for instance -- urging and willing us to fulfill the promise that is in abundance amongst us, to become the "turning point generation."
But if only the world understood how frustrating it can be to have hope in the future of Nigeria when its power sector remains comatose, corrupt ministers collude with the legislature, people die in stadiums while jostling for jobs, and governments strangle small businesses with multiple taxation and out-of-touch policies.
We have the important duty to maintain hope, keep up the excitement; channel the energy and take advantage of the opportunities that exist around us.
But at the same time, we must maintain perspective, and avoid burying our heads in the sand; we must demand better governance and speak with clarity and integrity about the failings of our leaders in government and the private sector.
Our eyes must be fixed on the stars, but our feet must stand firmly on the ground.
It is a delicate balance, but we have no choice. We must play the hand our continent has dealt us. We have no choice.
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