Ready to ride

When Jack Nicholson walked into the Trussville Civic Center on Feb. 25, what he saw brought tears to his eyes.

It was just a tricycle, but to Nicholson, it was his first opportunity in over a year to cycle.

Nicholson started biking in 1988, and he often went on 300 to 400-mile trips. Sometimes he would be gone for 14 days, and his wife, Jane, would have to call him and ask him to come home soon.

“I enjoy being outside, and when I spend all day on my bicycle, that’s a good day,” he said. “You put your worries behind you and just ride.”

He’s now 80 years old and had begun to slow down, but he still found time to ride the bike as often as possible. Then in September 2019, he had a stroke on the right side of his body. He couldn’t use his right arm and couldn’t move his right hand at all. He had to stay in the hospital for a month and relearn how to walk.

Once he got home, he hired home health care to help him function. In August 2020, he began visiting Martin Horst, a personal trainer at the Trussville Civic Center.

“When he came in, he was just kind of shuffling his feet,” Horst said. “We went through a game plan, and what that’s like is going through the woods, and you’re chopping away underbrush trying to figure out where you’re at and where this person’s at.”

Nicholson was the first stroke victim Horst had ever worked with, and Horst said he remembered feeling nervous but excited to help. Horst’s first focus was to help Nicholson walk properly.

“I wanted to prevent a trip-and-fall hazard,” he said. “He couldn’t pick his foot up and put it down properly. So we were very slow going. It’s daunting, and it’s very intimidating sometimes, too.”

Horst said Nicholson was able to put in the work and has kept a good attitude through the recovery.

“I just wanted to do better,” Nicholson said. “Sometimes I get up in the morning, and Jane says, ‘Why in the world are you so happy?’ And I say, ‘It’s a new day, and it’s my job to enjoy it.’”

Many people in similar situations become overwhelmed with their circumstances and give up, Horst said. But not Nicholson.

“Jack came ready to fight tooth and nail every day,” he said. “It’s hard for someone in that situation. You’ve got a long recovery time, and you know it. When you know the journey is 100,000 steps, it’s hard to take the first one. But he came in with a positive attitude every day.”

Not only is it physically challenging to go through a stroke recovery, but it can also be mentally challenging, and some people might feel embarrassed, Horst said.

“There’s a lot of weight, other than the weight I give them to lift, that they’ve got to carry in order to make progress,” he said.

One day at the civic center, Nicholson looked at Horst and asked, “Do you think I’ll ever be able to bike again?” Horst said he wasn’t qualified to answer that question but promised to do his best to get as close as they could to getting him back on the bike.

The thought stuck with Horst, though. Together with his coworker, Stacey Cole, they put a plan in motion to borrow a tricycle from a friend and reward Nicholson for his hard work.

“We wanted to do something good for the guy,” Horst said. “He’s worked hard for it, and people need to have some hope to fight through this stuff sometimes.”

The plans came together so that the surprise would be shortly after Jack’s birthday. When he walked into the gym at the civic center and saw the bike, he felt elated, he said.

“I felt like a young person on Christmas,” he said. “I just couldn’t believe it. That was beyond my dreams at that point. They’re teaching me that I have new horizons out there, that I don’t have to sit around all day, that I can stay moving and be useful to myself and other people.”

As soon as Cole could get the helmet fitted to Nicholson, he took off with tears streaming down his face.

Throughout the past year, Horst has focused on helping Nicholson. One side effect was that Nicholson helped Horst, too. In early 2020, Horst lost his girlfriend to cancer, who was diagnosed in 2019. Horst had a tough year, he said, and all he had was his job.

“People ride their bikes every day and take it for granted, and here’s Jack throwing a leg over a bicycle, and he’s overwhelmed,” Horst said. “It’s because it was gone. Being able to give that back to him, that’s what keeps me going. I can’t do that for myself, but I can do it for someone else, and that helps me.”

Horst also said he was inspired by Nicholson’s toughness, both mentally and physically.

“My situation is tough, but I’m not going to sit there and say I could handle his situation. I haven’t had his adversity. But he showed a lot of grace in it. He always caught himself when he was getting frustrated. I’ve got to do what Jack does. I’ve got to have guts. Seeing him tough it out helps me tough it out.”

Next to seeing that tricycle for the first time, hearing that his story was an inspiration to Horst makes Nicholson feel thrilled, he said.

“He certainly had effects on my life, too.”