Title: Sue Lockwood
Subtitle: Accepting the challenge
Description: From:      http://www.gordonsmith-hiker-author.com/index.html

                              

Sue Lockwood: Accepting the Challenge by Gordon Smith   (ISBN 9781462656875) PublishAmerica
 
New inspirational book aboutblind hikerSUE ELLEN LOCKWOOD	  AT     PCTCDT    NCTTranscontinental	BOOK INFO PageForward - ExcerptsChapter Outlines
 
40 years with diabetes, 12 years undergoing dialysis, 10 years with kidney transplants, 6 years as an amputee
 
“Those of us who had the honor of hiking with her never saw her fail,  because she never failed to give life everything she had.”
[Ed Talone, American Hiker Magazine]
   
Summary:.   This is the true story of blind hiker Sue Ellen Lockwood as told by her brother and (for twenty-five years) her caregiver.  It combines inspiration and adventure as this former physical education teacher deals with the complications of diabetes: blindness, kidney failure and finally an above-knee amputation.   Blind, she goes backpacking on the southern Appalachian Trail with her 80 year-old mother, and hiking to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon with her Leader Dog for the Blind.  After suffering kidney failure on a remote island in Canada, and being placed on kidney dialysis, she helps support Karen Berger on her first long-distance backpack – a trek of the Continental Divide Trail.  With improved kidney function she is able to do short backpacks on the Pacific Crest Trail, breaking a leg in the High Sierras and then hiking on with crutches.  In spite of decreased kidney function, she accompanies Ed Talone on the first single-season thru hike of the North Country Trail while doing dialysis four times a day.  After two kidney transplants she undertakes a transcontinental hike during which she rides across the Olympic Peninsula in a wheelchair after toe amputations on both feet.  As an amputee she annually attempts the five-mile Labor Day Mackinac Bridge Walk with an above-knee prosthesis.  Her forty year battle with diabetes ends with a series of ministrokes resulting in nursing home care until her peaceful death at age 61.  Her brother is uniquely qualified to relate this story as he spent twenty-five years living with Sue, being her eyes, medical attendant, confidant and constant supporter. -   

      Gordon Smith ,  21147 N. Beacon   #15,  Barnett, MO 65011  Phone: (573) 289-8516  
E-mail: gordon@nimblewillnomad.com      Web: http://www.gordonsmith-hiker-author.com/
Subjects: Diabetes, patients, biography, Siblings, Caregivers