Alameda Athlete Living With MS Pushes Her Boundaries And Defies The Odds

ALAMEDA, CA — Cross-country sit-skiing, sled hockey, swimming, rock wall climbing, wheelchair basketball — adaptive athlete Julie Lyons has done it all.

Lyons, who lives in Alameda, has multiple sclerosis (MS), but it hasn’t stopped her from staying active and living life to the fullest. When MS began to have a significant impact on her physical strength and movement over a decade ago, she reached out for medical and community support, and it's made all the difference.

“I wouldn't be able to do it without the Bioness and without the Challenged Athletes Foundation,” she said of her avid sports participation.

Bioness is the company behind a medical device she uses that helps with her mobility, and the Challenged Athletes Foundation is an organization that champions adaptive athletes like Lyons.

There's another reason Lyons has made such strides over the years: the tenacity she demonstrates in the face of challenges.

A Life-Altering Diagnosis

Lyons’ diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), a central nervous system disorder, came in 2009. But some symptoms, she said, started presenting themselves long before then.

“It’s a very slippery slope — a tricky disease to diagnose,” Lyons said. “If I look back into my neurological history, I had signs and symptoms that never added up to what it was, which is typical sometimes of people with MS.”

She has muscle weakness, mostly on her left side, resulting in strength loss in her left arm, torso and leg.

“My left hand — my grip strength — isn't really that great,” she said. “I can't do buttons [or other] fine motor things with my left hand anymore.”

She began experiencing motor symptoms around 2014, during which time she injured herself, leading to the discovery of a related condition.

“I thought I had twisted my left ankle, but I actually fell and fractured it," said Lyons. "It’s when I realized I had drop foot.”

Drop foot, aka foot drop, is a condition where a person has difficulty lifting the front part of their foot, causing it to drag on the ground while walking.

“If you can imagine taking your foot and tapping it, like if you were playing the drums, and you had to tap for the cymbals. That ability to lift your toe up off the floor — I can't do that very easily on my left foot,” she explained.

While the left-side strength loss means she no longer walks long distances without using a mobility scooter, she has been able to walk more in general because of a particular device.

The Game Changer

Since 2014, Lyons has used the “L300 Go” system, a functional electrical stimulation device that improves the gait in people with foot drop and thigh muscle weakness.

Worn externally, it’s able to “deliver stimulation to either or both the muscles in the upper and lower leg to facilitate muscle re-education, prevent/retard disuse atrophy, maintain or increase joint range of motion, and increase local blood flow,” according to Bioness, the company behind the L300 Go and other medical devices.

Lyons took it upon herself to get in touch with Bioness about the L300 Go, which wasn’t widely available more than a decade ago. She happened to come across a mention of it in a magazine, prompting her interest in trying it out.

“I contacted them directly and they came into one of the Kaiser [Permanente] facilities,” she said. “Through my tenacity and letter writing, through Kaiser, I was able to get this device.”

For Lyons, the L300 Go was a game changer, having a positive impact on her outlook and physical movement.

At the time, Lyons worked as a physical therapist and California State-licensed acupuncturist, with her own private practice on Bay Farm Island, an Alameda district that’s separated from the main island by a San Leandro Bay estuary.

“It enabled me to stay in my career,” she said. “I was able to keep working, and I was getting around quite nicely.”

She’s since retired from the health care field but continues doing what she loves: participating in sports.

A Supportive Foundation

Lyons, in her 60s, is an athlete at heart, both in terms of her mentality and physical prowess. A former high school and college lacrosse player, she enjoys being in-action, whether on a playing field, court, course or other terrain.

She’s become a member of the Challenged Athletes Foundation, a national nonprofit organization whose mission is “to provide opportunities and support to people with physical disabilities so they can pursue active lifestyles through physical fitness and competitive athletics,” according to the CAF team.

Headquartered in San Diego, CAF supports athletes by providing adaptive sports equipment; coaching and mentoring athletes with physical challenges; and offering grants for training, competition and travel. Plus, CAF is a means of community for people with physical disabilities, Lyons said.

“I've done so many things with them,” she said.

Eva Kristof, NorCal Senior Program Manager for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, shared with Patch that Lyons first joined CAF at an adaptive yoga event in 2022 and has been an active member ever since.

Lyons has been “a wonderful advocate for adaptive sports” and “kind, genuine, and thoughtful,” she said.

“Julie’s passion for inclusion and awareness shows through in the way she supports others and helps create a welcoming environment for everyone,” said Kristof. “She brings warmth and positivity to each event, and her presence makes the CAF community stronger and more connected.”

CAF offers individuals myriad options when it comes to adaptive sports participation, including mountain bike clubs; surf, swim and golf clinics; live-streamed full body workouts; and endurance sports such as ultramarathon trail races.

Lyons, for one, participated in a SoCal triathlon last October through the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

“I did the one-mile open water swim in the San Diego Bay as part of the triathlon team, and the other members of my team were also persons with challenges and disabilities,” she said.

As a part of the organization, she’s also become a more active golfer and a member of the NorCal Adaptive Golf Club.

"Julie’s enthusiasm for the sport shines through in the way she is always eager to learn, improve her skills, and celebrate the progress of others," Kristof said.

Notably, Lyons has met the challenging feat of relearning how to swing a golf club, with her left hand dominating the grip, head-on.

“I was a right-handed golfer before I had MS, and I started still trying to play right-handed, but I just kept falling over because I didn't have enough strength on my left side,” she explained. She now swings — and quite well — as a left-handed golfer.

Lyons, ever-resilient, is looking forward to attending adaptive golf clinics in the Bay Area this fall and to improving her golf game. She’s even considering tournament participation in the future.

“My goal is to play in one of these tournaments, maybe not this year, but hopefully next year,” she said.