Nick Chisholm
Seventh in a series of stories by Tina Jackson of famous people with disabilities.
Nick Chisholm, a bodybuilder and personal trainer, was born in New Zealand in 1973. He was a strong, healthy athlete who played rugby in addition to bodybuilding. In 2000, while playing a rugby game at the age of 27, he suffered a series of seizures leading to a full stroke resulting in massive damage to his brainstem. As he lay in his hospital bed, he was unable to move but alert enough to overhear doctors telling his family he would not survive. That made him angry. Angry enough, in fact, to prove them wrong.
He now lives with locked-in syndrome (LiS), a rare neurological condition where a person is fully conscious but unable to move or speak due to paralysis of all voluntary muscles except for eye movements. It is a coma-like condition, but the person is fully aware of his surroundings yet cannot move. People with LiS can often communicate using eye movements or blinking and their cognitive abilities remain intact.
There are different forms of the condition:
· Classic LiS: Total paralysis except for vertical eye movements and blinking.
· Incomplete LiS: Some limited movement beyond eye control. ·
· Complete LiS: No voluntary movement, including eye movements.
The most common cause is a stroke, but other triggers include traumatic brain injury, infections, or neurological disorders like multiple sclerosis. While there is no cure, assistive technologies and therapies can help improve communication and the quality of life.
Chisholm eventually regained some muscle usage and has become a champion in adaptive bodybuilding and a personal trainer for other disabled people. He cannot speak and communicates by pointing his eyes around a clear plastic board with letters and numbers on it to spell out what he wants to say.
Not only did he build a career in fitness, but he also found love. He met his wife, Nicola, online in 2009, and she moved from England to New Zealand to be with him. After years of trying, they welcomed triplets in 2020.
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