Today I Can, maybe tomorrow You Can too!
Today marks the first day of Siel Bleu’s first awareness week “I Can” Empowering Older Adults Through Exercise.
We know exercise is one of the most important things for our lives, and today we want Ireland to understand how important it is for older adults and adults living with chronic disease. For these cohorts, exercise has many benefits, including physical, social and psychological, but there is also empowerment. Exercise has the ability to help older people and people living with chronic conditions to take charge of their own health and empower them to do things they may have believed they weren’t able to do anymore.
Over the next 5 days we will be showcasing the incredible people who have successfully debunked the myth that just because you are older or living with an illness you can’t exercise.
After working for decades as an electrician, Tallaght man Noel, 78, was looking forward to a slower pace of life upon his retirement. Unfortunately, his health didn’t allow for it. After only one year of retirement, Noel was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was successfully treated for it, however more health issues were waiting around the corner.
Noel suffered ten mini-strokes and one major one that they caught in time. The strokes caused a hormonal imbalance for Noel resulting in mood swings; he called himself a “contrary bugger.” There were times where all he wanted to do was to sleep and he was hit with multiple waves of emotion each week, causing him to cry uncontrollably.
Noel signed up for Siel Bleu’s Stroke Survivor class in Tallaght, and never looked back. The programme helped to aid his physical and emotional recovery with the help of his peers in the group. The physical exercise each week encouraged Noel to continue working out throughout the week, and he now goes for a 9km walk everyday. Noel’s emotional symptoms have significantly reduced and he feels like the exercise class is one of the best things to have happened to him.
Would you like to join the I Can movement and discover what you CAN do?
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