One age grouper's amazing journey to the Big Island
By Brad Culp
Oct. 3, 2007 -- Like almost 2,000 other athletes, 21-year-old Brian Boyle is racing the Hawaii Ironman World Championship next weekend. However, Brian will be the only athlete at Kona who can say that he’s been dead – a total of eight times.
About three years ago, shortly after graduating from high school in Maryland, Boyle was driving home from swim practice and was hit by a dump truck. The state champion swimmer’s list of injuries were as follows: His heart was knocked across his chest. He lost 60% of his blood and 100 pounds. He suffered severe nerve damage. He broke his clavicle, some ribs and pelvis. He endured 36 blood transfusions and 13 plasma treatments. He lost his spleen and gulllbladder. His kidneys failed and he lacerated his liver.
That incredible series of injuries caused him to technically die on eight separate occasions while he was in a two-month coma. Now the former swimmer, power-lifter and bodybuilder has turned his attention to Ironman. After what he’s been through, we have no doubt that the lava fields of the Big Island will be a walk in the park. Triathlete caught up with Boyle as he prepped for this year’s World Championship.
Triathlete Magazine: Why Ironman Triathlon? After you recovered from your accident, what made you gravitate toward the sport?Brian Boyle: I grew up watching the Ironman triathlon on T.V. and I was amazed by the inspirational athletes that were competing in there and was just blown away by their determination to beat the odds and then go the next step further to actually finish something as fierce as the Ironman.
I always dreamed of one day competing in that race because I believe it is the ultimate experience in life and a true test of the human spirit. That dream to compete got bigger and bigger when I was in high school, and it was my plan to graduate, go to college and swim, and then compete in an Ironman. However, after the accident happened, those dreams were shattered just like the bones in my body. I was told that it would be a miracle if I could walk again one day, so how could I even think about the Ironman?
A few months after getting out of the hospital, I proved everyone wrong by not only learning how to walk again, but to run. I wasn't going to stop there, my plans were set far beyond that, and then I was back in the pool doggy-paddling a few laps here and there. Then six months after that, I was swimming competitively on my collegiate swim team and was one of the swimmers to watch. I got to the point where I realized, if I can come back to life after dying eight times and swim on a college team, then the Ironman is my next goal. A few months ago I contacted Ironman and told them my story and how I really wanted to compete in an Ironman triathlon because it would be the perfect ending to my story and recovery. I was contacted less than a month later and was given the media slot for Kona.
TM: How long have you been training for Kona? What are you most worried about come race day?BB: It's funny but I have only been training for two months, and the first month I really didn't know what I was doing because my background is in swimming only. I recently competed in the Steelhead Half-Ironman race in Michigan and before I left, I was only able to get on the bike twice for less than thirty minutes. I'm very new to distance running as well, so I'm learning as I go right now. My only concern for Kona is if my body can physically keep up with my passion and determination.
My friends and family look at my limited amount of training and I know they're probably thinking that finishing the race in Kona is going to be impossible. But, I think with what I have been through and experienced in my life that I have already proved that anything is possible...
TM: Describe the recovery process for us. What did it take to get from being in a two-month coma to getting to the start line of Kona?BB: I was hit so hard that my heart was instantly knocked across my chest; bones shattering and snapping in the blink of an eye; lungs collapsing; my life slipping away as each second ticks by; losing consciousness and pints of blood; life forces diminishing; the unimaginable pain; the chemically induced coma for two months; the paralysis; the pneumonia; the infections; the seizures; the routine CAT scans and MRI tests; not breathing for several minutes because the life support tubes clogged; waking up in a room and not knowing where I am and how I arrived there; the feeling of being told that my life was over; looking at my parents standing over my hospital bed and wondering why they are crying their eyes out; not being able to talk or communicate because I have four tubes going down my throat and to weak to raise a finger; having Vaseline spread across my dry eyes because I am not able to blink; being fed through a tube that goes down my nose and watching the liquids go in and out of it; the rubbing alcohol baths; viewing other patients in the intensive care unit rolling by my room with sheets covering their faces.
As each day went along in my hospitalization period, they said that I was in God's hands; it was unsure whether I would leave my hospital room in a wheelchair or a body bag. In all actuality, I was the worst patient in the unit for many weeks, besides those who were on their way to the morgue. I died eight times but each time I was brought back to life only to suffer more.
I was in room 19 for over two months, and for those months I was on the brink and slipping fast. In a chemically induced coma, I laid there on my back paralyzed and in a state of total confusion. I woke up not knowing how I got there because of all the medication and amnesia that was given to me. There I was laid out on a table, screaming, sweating, and barefoot to the floor. I was on drugs that were way stronger than morphine, and painkillers that drug addicts would give their lives for. I would go through withdrawals so severe that my body would lose total control and go into convulsions; I would have to hold my legs together in the fetal position for hours so I would stop shaking.
TM: What have you learned about yourself through the whole ordeal? Where does Ironman fit into that whole learning and recovering process?BB: What I have learned about myself throughout this whole ordeal is the old saying that a person has not lived until they have almost died, and for those out there who have fought, life has a flavor that the protected will never know.
TM: So you’ve been a state champion swimmer, you’ve come back to life eight times and you’re soon to become an Ironman finisher. Where do you go from here? What are you future plans in both life and sport?BB: My sights are set on finishing Kona right now, but after that, I still have my college swim team and I'm also thinking about making a career out of the Ironman triathlon. I've been looking at the Xterra triathlon too and I made a promise to all the nurses and doctors at my hospital that I would be in the Olympics one day so we shall see. I'd really like to get my book published and possibly do some motivational speaking somewhere along the line.
I find that if I can inspire at least one person with my story and my journey to Kona then that will answer the question that I have been asking since I got out of the hospital, and that question is why I was saved. They said that it was in God's Hands because it was; I am living proof that miracles do happen.
If you'd like to contact Brian, or wish him luck before the race, visit his myspace page at
http://www.myspace.com/bman5588