Real Triumphs & Inspiration: Marathon Man

by Ellen Michaud

Faith. Family. Friends. Thirty-one-year-old Wisconsin marathoner Rick Ellison ticks each one off as he describes how he survived ulcerative colitis, drugs that stripped the strength from his muscles, and a disease that blew a hole through his colon.

“The whole thing came out of nowhere,” winces the Gulfstream Aerospace training specialist. “I was a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh. I was on my college wrestling team, I could bench-press nearly twice my weight, I’d just defeated a two-time state champion, and I’d just met the girl of my dreams.”

He chuckles. “What could go wrong?”

As often seems to happen with ulcerative colitis, that was the moment a cranky gut chose to set itself on fire.

“I tried to ignore the cramps and bleeding,” says Ellison, “but I was hospitalized off and on for months, and prednisone ravaged my knees.” Eventually, he adds, “I had to give up my dream of becoming an All-American wrestler.”

When the colitis was finally beaten into remission, Ellison decided to visit his parents in Alabama. “That’s when the colitis went nuts,” he says grimly. A whopper of a flare-up stripped 30 pounds off his muscular frame, landed him in the local hospital with a fever of 105, severe bleeding, and what turned out to be a perforated colon. An emergency colectomy (2 series J-pouch surgery) kept him from bleeding to death.

True Tests of Faith

Complications from blockages sent him back into the hospital a second time, just a month following surgery; his weakened condition confined him to a wheelchair.

While he survived that ordeal as well, what he wasn’t surviving were the medical bills, because he had no health insurance (he had been covered under his father’s plan until his dad’s recent change of jobs). When he was ready for a J-pouch reversal, between 3 and 4 months later, the local hospitals took one look at his lack of insurance and refused to let him in. Fortunately, he says, “my surgeon, who was a fellow colitis sufferer and ostomate, did some lobbying on my behalf.” The second surgery got done.

But once out of the hospital, Ellison had one more blow to contend with: His Uncle Richard, the man who had taken him in and nursed him back to health after his first surgery, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

Emerging from his grief over his uncle’s fate, Ellison grabbed his own life with both hands, went into rehab, and vowed to throw away his crutches.

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Hitting a New Stride

Within months, he was walking on his own. He reenrolled in school, got engaged to the woman who is now his wife, and wondered if perhaps he couldn’t wrestle once again. Since running had always been a part of his training, he began alternating his walking with jogging. Just a few steps at first, then the length of his driveway, then a bit down the street.

He got back into shape, wrestled his way through a tournament, and did well. But knowing that his 20-something body was getting a little “old” to be twisted into a pretzel every day, Ellison hung up his wrestling headgear and donned a coach’s whistle instead. Working as an assistant wrestling coach for his former high school, he could work out daily with the wrestlers, maintain his strength, keep up with his studies, make a dent in his bills — and finally marry the woman who had loved and supported him throughout.

He graduated from college, started a job with Gulfstream Aerospace, and his wife became pregnant. Twice. Life seemed more than satisfying…until one night, when Ellison was watching an ESPN special on Chris Gedney, the Arizona tight end who had overcome ulcerative colitis to return to the Arizona Cardinals after surgery. “Chris made me realize that it was possible to return to an active life after surgery, and to do so at an even higher level,” says Ellison.

Ellison’s competitive juices reignited and he became determined to run a marathon. Within 5 years, he completed four marathons and four triathlons.

Today, he is still running. Most days Ellison’s got a jogging stroller out in front with a 4-year-old giggling inside.

No matter what, Rick Ellison is a guy who’s always going to be on the move.

Ellen Michaud is author of the forthcoming book The Healing Kitchen.

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