Bodani: Riding across America for Mom and Dad
The dreaded diagnosis came after he already had beaten a blown-out knee, paralysis and even death.
It's been more than three years since doctors told him his mother was suffering from a form of dementia that would change her into a woman he barely knows.
How could Rod Gladfelter possibly conquer this?
Finally, an idea came to him about a year ago during one of his routine visits to her nursing facility. He always pushes her in a wheelchair to a room with windows so they can simply sit and watch the world together, often in silence.
Always, they hold hands.
"You're sitting there feeling helpless," he said. "It's like, 'Mom, what can I do for you?'"
That is what got him thinking about making the journey of a lifetime.
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The York Daily Record named Gladfelter one of York County Tech's greatest athletes in 2008, so good in football in the 1970s that he earned all-state honorable mention honors and went on to star at Liberty University in Virginia and earn a tryout with the Dallas Cowboys.
And yet it would be a nearly fatal accident, of all things, that would propel him to even greater accomplishments years later. He was working on a welding job in Lancaster County when 300 pounds of steel fell on him, compressing part of his spine and blowing out two disks. He describes barely surviving a 16-hour surgery and not being able to move his arms or legs for days after waking up.
Swelling around his spine subsided as he began to make slow steps forward in a year-long recovery.
The experience bolstered his faith and pushed him to outreach as a motivational speaker. It even drove him harder in his athletic and recreational activities.
He trained for a 100-mile ultra-marathon in Alaska in 2009 before that blown-out knee ruined it in the final weeks. He learned to fly planes and fish for marlin and tuna. He ran a 50K race through the mountains of West Virginia, and made week-long biking trips deep into Virginia and North Carolina — stuff that most 50-somethings don't even contemplate.
He even became an ordained minister.
Only after all of that did the Dallastown physical education teacher and former high school defensive coordinator experience the cruelest twist.
The man who seemed to be able to overcome most everything watched as dementia gradually swallowed his mother, now 82, and wore out his father, her primary caregiver.
He needed to do something. He came up with a bike trip across America to raise awareness and funding to fight dementia.
He will ride solo, starting in Lake Tahoe, California, and almost immediately challenge the nearly 300 miles of Route 50 through Nevada, nicknamed the "Loneliest Road in America." One friend will act as a mini-supply train during that stint. Later, two others will drive ahead of him to set up camp sites along the way.
Gladfelter hopes to ride about 100 miles each day, starting June 12 and ending sometime in July. He will fly a flag from the back of his bike bearing the names of others suffering from some form of dementia or brain-related illnesses.
One of his goals is to enter "that dimension of loneliness where my mother is right now. My mother can't remember anyone or anything. She sits there in the blankness of her mind all alone. That'a a very lonely place to be. That's a bit of what I'm trying to capture in the ride."
His father, Bill, understands the purpose even if he can't fathom the journey. He sees the tears and hugs from others when they hear what his son is doing because it reminds them of their own loved ones with dementia.
He sees how his wife knows her son even if she can't speak. She sometimes will grab his pants leg as he attempts to leave one of their visits.
Father and son will spend Memorial Day together and then spend time with the woman they love.
"Deep down, this is something to pay back his mom for all she did for him," Bill Gladfelter said of his son's upcoming biking odyssey. "He's doing it for the love of his mom."
Biking for a cause
Who: Dallastown elementary physical education teacher Rod Glatfelter, 58.
What: A 3,000-mile solo bike ride across the United States to raise awareness and funds to fight dementia and other brain illnesses
Find out more: www.catherineroberto.wix.com/mysite-1
Make a donation: Checks for the Gladfelter Dementia Fund may be sent to: PeoplesBank, 320 N. Main St, New Salem, PA 17408.