OH! Magazine - Australian Version November 2015 | Page 4

( OH WOW! )

TIM
PICKERING

THE FIGHT OF HIS LIFE
Fitness professional, triathlete and fire fighter Tim Pickering shares his inspiring
journey as he battles an unexpected and debilitating case of Guillain Barre Syndrome.

magine being in the prime of your
life. You’re super fit, active,
healthy, enjoying competitive triathlons,
you’ve found the love of your life, and
you’ve just started a brand new job – a
dream job in fact, as a fire fighter in the
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Now
imagine yourself spending month after
month on a bed in an Intensive Care Unit
(ICU), unable to move. You’ve lost 20kg in
body weight and your muscles have
completely deteriorated, leaving you
reliant on a respirator to breathe. This was
the unexpected reality for 40-year-old
Tim Pickering.

I

A Castle Hill (Sydney) resident, a qualified
personal trainer, group exercise instructor
and a fire fighter in the RAAF at the
Richmond Base (NSW), Tim Pickering is a
young man who used to spend his time
competing in triathlons, running, road
racing, scuba diving, and reading good
books. These days however, Tim resides
at the Mt Wilga Private Hospital in
Hornsby (NSW), where he’s focusing all
his energy on relearning to walk and
teaching his body how to move again.
In February this year, Tim’s life was turned
upside down after being struck down with
Guillain Barre Syndrome. Also known as
‘GBS’, this autoimmune disease is caused
by the immune system mistakenly
attacking the body’s own peripheral
nerves, resulting in damaged myelin
insulation.

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NOVEMBER 2015 ( OH! MAGAZINE )

‘Basically, GBS causes paralysis of the
body to varying degrees; for me, it
completely immobilised me, leaving me
on a bed in the Intensive Care Unit for
103 days, with my body on a respirator. I
lost over 20kg and my muscles completely
wasted away.’
‘Sometimes this immune dysfunction is
triggered by an infection,’ explains Tim.
‘But mine was probably caused by Ross
River Fever, which they discovered when
they did blood tests. For me, the
symptoms were pins and needles in my
feet and legs, as well as sore and weak
joints and limbs, which I just put down to
having the flu or a virus. I found out later
though, that the aches and pains in my
hands, feet and joints are typical
symptoms for an onset of GBS; but at the
time, I didn’t even know what GBS was.’
‘When the neurosurgeon told me I had
Guillain Barre Syndrome, I remember
asking him how many days I’d be out for.
He looked at me and said it would more
likely be weeks or months, which
absolutely stopped me in my tracks. I
mean, when you’re fit, healthy and active,
who even thinks about being in hospital
for months? Even at that point, I didn’t
understand the severity of GBS and what
lay ahead for me.’
‘Thanks to fantastic parents and a great
dad who volunteered his time coaching,
I’ve been sporty my whole life. I did

swimming, cricket, soccer and little
athletics; we were always active and
involved in team sports. In later life I also
competed locally in roller hockey and ice
hockey.’
‘At age 33 I was teaching more than 14
cycle classes a week in various gyms and
I wanted to use my fitness for something
specific,’ Tim explains. ‘So that year, in
2008, I completed my first triathlon race.
And during the last seven years I’ve gone
from being a beginner with no idea about
the sport, to someone who lives, loves
and breathes triathlon! I am now a
qualified triathlon coach and on the
committee of my local Triathlon club, the
Hills Tri Club.’
Tim’s lowest low arrived during his second
week of treatment, when he was informed
that the disease was winning the battle,
and the outcome looked grim; fatal, in
fact. ‘Like most people, I too felt pretty
invincible in life, so when they told me to
prepare for the absolute worst, well let’s
just say it came as a very very big shock.’
‘ICU is a scary place, and even moreso
when you can’t talk or move but you can
hear, see and understand everything that
goes on around you, including seeing
other patients die,’ says Tim.
GBS causes an immense amount of
neuropathic pain, which is unbearable,
even with all the pain meds they were