Walk it off
22 Dec 2017
A decade ago, Janice Petrie couldn’t even walk to her mailbox. Now, at the age of 70, she’s completed a 325-kilometre walk – and has no plans of slowing down.
Janice was ready to enjoy a well-deserved rest when she retired from her career in childcare. But the universe had other plans. Six months after retiring, Janice was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack itself.
A SHOCK DIAGNOSIS
“I was told I had about 18 months to live,” Janice says. “I couldn’t do anything for myself. My condition was getting worse each day.” Eventually, Janice’s doctors discovered her condition was being caused by a prescription drug. It still took three months of treatment before she was able to move around the house properly. “It was a couple of years before I could even walk five kilometres,” Janice says. A few years later, Janice moved to Canberra and, in an effort to improve her health, decided to take up walking. It started with simple strolls around Canberra’s suburbs and lakes, but before long she was taking on the Brindabella mountain range. “It opened up a real passion for walking; I just love walking in the mountains around Canberra,” she says.
A BIG JOURNEY
In the lead up to her 70th birthday, Janice’s husband Colin asked how she’d like to celebrate. “I said I wanted to do the Wainwright Coast to Coast Walk in England,” Janice says. After months of training, Colin and Janice were ready to go. “Two months before we set out to do the Coast to Coast Walk I went for a full health check, and for the first time in 10 years my body was free of lupus,” she says. But this wasn’t the only surprise. “I’d had a bone density test for osteoporosis when I was 55 and had been told I was showing early signs of osteoporosis. I had another test before the walk and my bones were in fantastic condition.
All our intense training certainly made a big difference to my health.” So when the time finally came for them to do the Coast to Coast Walk, Janice was ready. It’s a good thing too, because the 13-day trek threw everything it had at her. “At times we were going up on hands and knees. Other times going down steep hills on our backsides. One day we were all hanging on to each other as we walked because we were being blown off the track,” Janice says. “We walked through mud and cow poo so deep it oozed over the top of our boots.” But despite these hardships, Janice says the scenery and new friends they made on the walk made it the best thing she and her husband have ever done.
THE POWER OF PROBUS
Janice and her husband moved to Canberra in 2005 to be closer to their family and help with their grandchildren. “Moving to Canberra was the best decision we made for our retirement; it was a very big lifestyle change,” Janice says. Because they didn’t know many people, Janice says she and her husband were forced to step outside of their comfort zone to make friends, “We needed to get involved in the community to meet people. Probus certainly made a big difference.” Janice joined the Greenway Ladies’ Probus Club, which soon became the Greenway Probus Club. Eventually, along with others, Janice helped start the Conder Lanyon Probus Club. “Probus has changed my life since moving to Canberra and has given me many wonderful friends,” Janice says.
40 FOR 40
Last year Janice suggested that members of the Conder Lanyon Probus Club do 40 kilometres worth of laps around Point Hut Pond to celebrate 40 years of Probus in Australia. She didn’t expect a big turn out but, to her surprise, there was plenty of support. “We had 54 members at the time, and 37 turned up on the big day,” Janice says. Janice was so excited by the turnout that she decided to walk her own 40 kilometres to celebrate. “I was on such a high from how much everyone was enjoying the day, so I decided I would do 40 kilometres on my own for the 40th.”
®