Julie McKay – Beaufort Lifemodel

TRIUMPHING OVER
EATING AND EXERCISE DISORDERS

story by JEANNE REYNOLDS                  images by SUSAN DELOACH

If you’ve lived within the Beaufort space for very lengthy and traveled round Lady’s Island, Port Royal, or Mossy Oaks, you’ve in all probability seen Julie McKay. She’s “The Walker” — the diminutive (we’re speaking 4’10”) lady energy strolling by downtown, over each bridges, round Port Royal, on the Spanish Moss Trail, and up and down Sam’s Point Road and Sea Island Parkway, as much as 10 miles a day, rain or shine, in illness and in well being.

“There are few days when I don’t run into someone who stops and asks if I’m the walker,” Julie says. “Some people have even referred to me as the ‘Ninja Bridge Walker’ and tell me how inspirational it is.”

Inspiring others to enhance their well being and health is clearly one thing Julie is pleased with. But as Paul Harvey used to say, “And now … the rest of the story.”

THE UNSEEN STRUGGLE
Julie’s seemingly wholesome dedication to health is definitely a symptom of her lifelong battle with consuming problems and train dependancy.

“My parents divorced when I was very young, and my mom became anorexic and ‘taught’ me,” she remembers. “An aunt once told me I was asking how many calories were in things at age 5. Most little girls want to be like their mom, and I idolized her and tried to do whatever she did. She encouraged me to exercise and try other diet tools over the years, even though I was never really overweight.”

Julie grew up within the Columbia space, dwelling together with her father and stepmother most of that point. She stayed match with typical actions throughout her teen years, together with dance, cheerleading, tennis, and piano classes. After graduating from the University of South Carolina with a level in secondary schooling educating Spanish and French, she bought married and moved to Charleston so her husband might attend medical college and likewise started her personal educating profession.

She wasn’t on a daily train routine then, however needed to lose just a little weight. Unfortunately, together with her early “training,” it wasn’t lengthy earlier than she discovered herself hooked on train and shedding pounds.

“In my early teaching days, I went on a longer anorexic kick, eating lettuce and a bowl of cereal most days while exercising to the extreme,” she says. “Exercising was my way of coping and escaping from the problems in my life, of staying in control.”

At first, her purpose was to burn 1,000 energy a day with an hour on an elliptical machine. Then, to get out of the “unhealthy” fitness center atmosphere, she began strolling outside as a substitute, from three to 5 miles as much as 10, whereas “not eating much at all.”

Her consuming dysfunction got here and went over the following twenty years as she battled marriage issues, by a number of totally different counselors and two hospitalizations throughout a three-year time interval.

“It was wrecking my life,” she says. “I finally did residential treatment in Brevard, North Carolina, for a couple of months around 2007. I learned a lot of healthy habits about food that helped a lot with my mental battle, which still presents its ugly self sometimes,” she admits.

A PAINFUL SURPRISE
Julie moved to Beaufort in 2011 to be close to her father and stepmother, who had been having fun with retirement on Dataw Island, and started educating at Beaufort High School. She continued to have some “weak moments with food issues” however hardly ever strayed from her consuming plan — or her 10-mile every day walks. Then, uncommon new signs began cropping up.

“I was having pain in my back, knees, and feet. After a while, doing 10 miles a day in the heat of the summer, I started experiencing a lot of pain in my sacrum and had a lot of issues with sciatica, but I continued to push through with my exercise regardless,” she says. “I went through chiropractic care and physical therapy a few times, and was a regular at my orthopedist’s office. We chalked it up to overuse injuries.”

She tried switching to rollerblades as a lower-impact different to strolling, however in 2017 injured her shoulder in a foul fall. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise when an MRI revealed indicators of stage 2 a number of myeloma.

“Those pains were from bone lesions — holes in my bones,” she explains. “After I started cancer treatment, the pains subsided.”
A stem cell transplant adopted in 2018 on the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. She continues to get infusions regionally and chemotherapy at Mayo each three months. Throughout her prognosis and remedy, she’s continued to train every day, though a latest clavicle fracture — most certainly attributable to her most cancers — has sidelined her strolling for a bit.

“It takes a lot to get me to not exercise every day,” Julie says. “I walked 5 miles a day while still in the hospital after the transplant — that’s a lot of laps around a hospital ward! The treatments drain my energy, but I’ve continued walking. The doctors say it’s the best thing for me. I won’t necessarily ever beat this cancer due to the nature of the beast, but because of my healthy lifestyle, I’ve had so few issues and never got sick like most people experience.”

WALKING THE PATH FORWARD
Julie’s mom died three years in the past after growing early-onset dementia — one other darkish cloud with a tinge of silver lining. The dementia finally prompted her mom to cease exercising and begin consuming with out restraint.

“That sort of gave me permission to ease up on my own ongoing, though not so active, battle with anorexia, to give myself some grace,” she says. “I still walk or do the elliptical every day and follow a healthy eating regimen, but I’m enjoying the freedom this has given me with not having to be quite so rigid with the speed, distance, and food choices.”

Julie has additionally begun a brand new chapter in her life as a retiree. “I want to do something ‘not teaching,’ but plan to stay in the school district, working with new teachers as a mentor,” she says. “I want the flexibility to help my parents, volunteer more, and serve as a phone coach for other myeloma patients.” She’s additionally added yoga and faucet dancing to her lively pursuits.

“I’ve continued to maintain a good balance with staying healthy, but it’s been a struggle,” she says. “People say I inspire them, but they don’t know what’s really going on. If they knew the back story, it might make even more of a positive impact — and that brings me joy. Knowing I can give others a little hope with their own battles through my story is what helps keep me going, too. Above all, I give the glory to Jesus. My faith has kept me strong and determined.”

JULIE’S LIFE LESSONS LEARNED THE HARD WAY
• Be extra versatile.
• Rome wasn’t in-built a day. One time without work, or consuming a bit of cake, isn’t going to make or break you.
• Stay within the second. Be extra current, and decelerate and expertise extra. Find belongings you’re captivated with.
• Life is brief. You actually don’t know what’s going to occur, as I discovered with my most cancers.

JULIE’S TIPS FOR HELPING SOMEONE WITH EATING OR EXERCISE DISORDERS
If it’s you
• “Get help. Find an accountability partner or you’ll be stuck forever. And it’s not a fun place to be stuck in. I’m my own advocate now because I’m aware of what I’m doing. Sometimes I’ll see someone really thin and think, ‘I wish I could be like that,’ but I know what goes with it, and it’s not a fun place to be.”
• “When I was hospitalized and battling anorexia early on, they frequently reminded me as I was ‘learning’ to eat again that ‘food is medicine.’ I had to constantly remind myself of that and it became my mantra for quite a while.”
If it’s a beloved one
• “Approach it as acknowledging the internal pain he or she must be experiencing and note the first goal is to get that loved one in a healthier place physically and medically. Don’t focus on food or eating — a mere band-aid — as much as the medically safe side.”
• “Figure out the root cause of the behavior and approach it lovingly. Enlist professional help. Counseling, including family counseling, is a start. Ask questions and listen so you can understand.”