One more run: Blind man’s dying wish

Thursday, 19 December 2024

Blind Christchurch runner Mike Asmussen refuses to let his impairment slow him down, so when he was told he had just weeks to live, he did what he always does. He ran. Nadine Roberts reports.

They sit with shoulders touching and hands bound by a rope but that’s where the similarities end.

As Mike Asmussen tries to find words the cancer in his brain is trying to steal, the man who has been his blind running guide and friend wipes his eyes.

It’s an emotional time for both of them after Asmussen found out six weeks ago that he had terminal cancer and very little time.

For guide Mark Boon and those that know the runner, it’s a cruel twist in the life of a man who has inspired so many.

But Asmussen’s having none of it and intends on doing what he always has - until the day he can’t.

There’s even stubborn talk of a half marathon in January.

“Its important for me to set goals and try and do something every day to make the community better,” he says in the lounge of his Christchurch home, with running shoes not far from his feet.

Legally blind from birth with just 10% sight in his left eye, Asmussen has never allowed the impairment to get in the way - a legacy he puts down to the way he was raised.

Both he and his sister who is also blind, were main-stream schooled and told from an early age that the world was not going to change in order to fit their needs.

“Mum and Dad told us we needed to adapt to achieve our goals and didn’t stop us from doing anything. I take my hat off to my parents. They would do lots of things to enrich our lives. We didn’t just sit in a corner.”

To son Daniel, Dad’s just Dad - he’s known no different.

“Sometimes when he’s behind us in a supermarket aisle he’ll get distracted and stop,” Daniel smiles, “and then we say hurry up!…forgetting he’s got an impairment. We’re just so used to it.”

But put him in some sneakers and there’s no dilly dallying with Asmussen, a common sight at the five kilometre park run circuits around Christchurch, joined by a tether to a volunteer guide.

That speed may have diminished as cancer has taken hold, but that doesn’t mean Asmussen’s chucking in the towel.

This Saturday will see him attempt his 289th park run at Hagley Park and Boon’s hoping it will be in front of a cheering crowd.

Earlier this week Boon put the call out far and wide on social media.

“While we as runners measure our runs in seconds. Minutes. Hours. In Mike's situation right now we are talking weeks,” he wrote. “Right now Mike needs us. All of us. He's one of us. You can't miss us on Saturday at Hagley Park in our bright yellow attire. Come and say hello at the start area. The time is now,” he urged.

Although Asmussen would like to get to 300 park runs, and run a half marathon in late January, he knows he has to be realistic. Every day is a gift that’s appreciated and savoured - as is every moment he spends with his family in what he knows will be his last Christmas.

“I’m resigned to my fate,” he says stoically, “but it's the people you leave behind, your loved ones, your friends that my heart goes out to.”

It’s been a tough time for the family after his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. Thankfully she’s in remission, but even the thought of what she went through brings the blind runner to tears.

“You right mate,” Boon asks as he leans over and grasps his mate’s hand.

“I wished it had been me,” Asmussen responds through tears.

The pair have been through a lot side by side, but Boon says his decision to be a guide runner in 2019 for the Achilles International NZ has gifted him so much more than he has given - especially when it comes to Asmussen.

“He’s so very kind and always worried about other people,” Boon says. “And if there’s something going on in my life, he’s always asking how I am. It works both ways.”

Asmussen credits training for an Outward Bound course in 2012 for giving him the running bug. Not long after he found Achilles, who were providing athletes with disabilities the chance to participate alongside able-bodied athletes in local, national and international events.

Asmussen and his family can’t speak highly enough of the organisation or the many guides who have helped him fulfil his dreams, including Christchurch based volunteer Vanessa Gopperth who played a significant role in helping him complete the New York marathon last year.

And now Achilles is stepping up again to make sure Asmussen can achieve as many of his running goals as possible before he dies - even if it means pushing him long distances in a wheelchair.

It’s been less than two months since Asmussen first suspected something was seriously wrong after he couldn’t tie up his shoelaces. He was also dropping things from his right hand, and his guides began to notice his speech was slightly slurred.

The news that came back wasn’t good - cancer in the brain and it had spread.

Determined to fight for every extra day, Asmussen pinned his hopes on immunotherapy which could have prolonged his life for six weeks, but his body couldn’t cope with the steroids required to make that happen.

“It’s now quality of life with weeks to go,” he says pragmatically. “Which has been a special time for family because often you don’t get to say goodbye. It’s important,” he adds, “to set goals and try and do something every day to make the community better”.

His prognosis caused Boon to contemplate the simplicity of a friendship that was born out of a disability and a Saturday morning run around a park.

“Too often in life we are too slow to give praise to things we are grateful for in life,” Boon says. “It occurs to me that at Hagley Park it's not so much the course but the people you are with that make the journey worthwhile.”

Now he and Asmussen want others to join them this Saturday at 8am to share the camaraderie and community they have found beneficial to their lives. More than that, Boon wants everyone to know the man he’s proud to call his mate.

“You have an amazing gift for bringing people together,” he tells his friend, “and you’ve been one of my biggest reasons for running”.

Asmussen smiles and adds his own wise words.

“Who would have thought that last year I was running the New York marathon, and this year I’m struggling to walk, or run. You just don’t know what’s coming around the corner,” he says slowly. “Don’t delay what you can do today.”