'Life Is Full of Roadblocks, But You Have to Drive Through Them' – Dirk Vlieks' Inspiring Recovery
After having swum the 1.2-mile leg of Hawaii’s Rohto Half-Ironman triathlon Dirk Vlieks of Mystic was 22 miles into the 56-mile bike section, already thinking ahead to the 13.1-mile run to the finish line, when he began to feel dizzy.
Most athletes competing in grueling endurance races expect to hit a few valleys – and, they hope, peaks along the way – but Dirk’s descent almost exactly a decade ago was different.
“My vision began to blur. It got worse with each push of the pedal,” he recalled.
His head pounding, Dirk rolled unsteadily to a patch of grass among the lava fields, staggered off his bike and lay down just as the race director approached on a motorcycle.
“I need some help,” Dirk gasped, realizing that “things were getting worse very quickly. … I thought I was dying.”
He was right. Dirk had suffered a stroke brought on by a collection of abnormal blood vessels in his brain.
In an article in The Day published May 31, 2011, “After recovering from a stroke, triathlete looking to undo ‘DNF’’ Staff Writer Joe Wojtas chronicled Dirk’s travails – a doctor at the neurointensive care unit on Oahu looked at Vlieks' brain scan and told his wife, Kelsey, "I don't think your husband is going to survive. Have you talked about his wishes?"
Dirk did pull through, but a few days later he developed pneumonia and a fever. Then fluid began to build back up in his head and a shunt was put in; he had surgery for deep vein thrombosis, a feeding tube caused him to go into respiratory distress and he underwent a tracheotomy. He began having panic attacks and would pull out his tubes. He had to be restrained.
After a month in the hospital the couple flew back to their home then in California and Dirk began his rehabilitation at the facility where Kelsey worked. He had lost 30 of his 187 pounds and was pale with a shaved head. His wife said he looked like the typical traumatic brain injury patient.
"I had to start from ground zero for everything," Dirk was quoted as saying in the 2011 article.
A former college tennis star who switched to triathlons after a knee injury, Dirk now had to learn to walk and talk. He was motivated not just by Kelsey and their twin daughters, but by a burning desire to compete again. It took years of focused therapy to bring him not just back on his feet but on his bike and in the pool.
Fast-forward to June 2011: Dirk returned to Hawaii and this time cycled past that ill-fated 22-mile mark to finish the 70.3-mile triathlon in six hours and 57 minutes – a triumphant feat made possible by sheer willpower.
Five years later, Dirk, now 43, continues to swim, bike and run, and now has a new passion: writing.
He has nearly completed a book about his experience titled “Square One.” We chatted about it the other day while – not surprisingly – enjoying a run with friends.
The main message of his autobiography, Dirk told me, “is never to give up.”
He writes, “In a lifetime of looking for challenges, I learned quickly there were a few I’d have preferred not to face. Learning to walk again at age 34 was harder. So was learning to eat and speak again. Those were just a bit more challenging than anything thrown at me by an Ironman.”
Dirk is a realist, though, and understands he will never compete at the same level he did before the medical crisis. Though he still has some difficulties with speech, vision and balance, he continues to improve by developing new skills and adapting old ones. The simple delight of joining friends at races and during workouts sustains him.
“I just want to play with others. I just want to have a chance to play.”
A few days after our run Dirk called me from Utah, where he was vacationing with his family.
“Had a great day today,” he said. “Skied for seven or eight hours. Then went for a four-mile run.”
Nice.
Over the years I’ve met several athletes like Dirk who have persevered through injuries, illness and other challenges: A one-armed kayaker, a one-legged marathoner, a blind hiker … They fill me, and so many others, with hope and joy.
As Dirk said, “Life is full of roadblocks, but you have to drive through them.”
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