The Tulsa paper just did a story about my dad and I thought it was really sweet and captured my mom and dad's relationship so well. I'm so blessed to get to have two parents that adore each other so much. It's a long article, I mostly wanted to post it so I could remember it.
Dan Threlkeld. Many know him as the animated weather guy on Channel 2. Those that personally know him know what an ultra guy he is.
A few months ago, his absence from our homes, from the life of normalcy he and his incredibly supportive wife JoAnn had known, changed overnight – Monday, July 12th as JoAnn precisely recalled. Our beloved weather guy, amazing ultraman, faithful family man (well, except the passionate affair he openly admits – with ultra distance running), battled death.
Recently I met with Dan and his lovely wife of 32 years, JoAnn, for an interview to gain insight and tell the story of their battle. Greeted with a hug, an expression of his warm nature and open kindness, he led me to meet his beautiful bride. We all sat down together to discuss their triumph with this ultra test, and as Dan gratefully stated, the break God has given him.
Here’s their story:
Family, job, and sports are the three key elements in Dan’s day-to-day life. A genuine, caring, earnest, humble, warm spirited man, that when in his presence, you feel you are the focal point of his universe as he intently listens, absorbs the moment, and is seemingly on edge of his seat for “the rest of your story”, offered his story.
His honest, sincere nature was evident in every expression, gesture, posture, and spoken word. Dan has been a meteorologist in Oklahoma for 26 years – 18 years at the NBC station in OKC and for nearly 8 years, he has been the Chief Meteorologist for Channel 2 in Tulsa. He has been in many of our homes, passionately forecasting the weather for Green Country and relentlessly advising us, warning us, pleading with us through our severe weather – day or night, weekday or weekend, whenever we need him.
Aside from serving others, he is a faithful family man and an endurance junky. We’ll get to the noble part of his character later, but let’s expose his affair – with running!
Ten K’s, Half-Marathons, and Marathons weren’t enough of a challenge. He needed more. As many of us have experienced, we each have that “friend” – the peer- pressure/encourager/you-can-walk-on-water supporter in our lives. Dan’s “friend” was Stan. Stan rode his bike alongside Dan yelling at him, “encouraging” him, as Dan completed his first ultra marathon (a race consisting of distances longer than a marathon, generally 50 to 100 miles) – the Okie Relays 41 miler.
This was the birth of his true endurance junkiness. He soon began taking on 50-miler events and then attacked the Oklahoma Mother Road 100 miler – twice.
He openly admitted that while training for the ultras, sports became the number one priority in his life. He truly had an affair with running, as he repeatedly would sneak out of the house at 2 AM for training runs, and was deceitful to JoAnn regarding where or how long he had been running. He kind of smirked and half-heartedly apologized as he stated, “sorry honey, running has been the only time I’ve been unfaithful.”
I then asked JoAnn what I thought was going to be a very hard question: “How does that make you feel that sports or running was a priority over you or your family?” Her response not only made me teary eyed, but also made me take a moment for myself. Her response underscored the abundant love and respect evident between these two: It never bothered me unless he was putting himself in an unsafe or dangerous situation. I only wish I loved something as much as he loves running.
Wow! I still tear up with that! One can only aspire to have that depth of love, support, and understanding for their partner in life!!
Now for the rest of the story:
Dan and JoAnn began dating in high school. She was a senior and he a sophomore – a tidbit of information Dan offered as his chest seemingly swelled, and JoAnn scoffed, “you didn’t have to add that!” This loving couple celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary in July, shortly after Dan entered the hospital for what would become a nearly two month fight for his life.
JoAnn has always been his greatest supporter, his raving fan. Limited to walking and minimal running as a result of her chronic back problems and surgery, JoAnn has discovered ways to share in Dan’s passion for running – the affair of his heart, the “other love” in their lives. Whether it be on a bike as he trained for distances of 10K’s to marathons, driving a van through all hours of the night as he raced his ultra marathons, or Dan’s recent tangle with death, JoAnn has faithfully, steadfastly been by his side.
They have two grown children, a married daughter who resides in Austin and a son that lives here in Tulsa. Both are active and fit; however, their son has Dan’s ultra gene, as he is a competitive rock climber – a free climber, “the type of climber that has no safety ropes and just scales the rocks, the mountain…and goes UP.”
As alluded to earlier, the morning of Monday, July 12 would become the ultra test of Dan’s life, the “Threlkeld” family’s lives. Fortunately, Dan’s endurance, resiliency, and will honed through his ultra marathoning endeavors would become his and his family’s salvation – who knew a passionate affair would be the salvation of a family!
He awakened to numbness in his fingertips. Not something to “call in” for work, he proceeded with his day. Within a few hours, he additionally lost sensation in his toes. By mid-morning, as if he had dipped his arm up to his elbow into a paint can, he had lost total sensation to that point in his arm.
In retrospect, he stated he had been experiencing stomach issues for nearly two weeks, yet wrote it off as possibly overeating or a taste of food poisoning. By late night, he was retching uncontrollably and JoAnn urged him to go to the emergency room.
Within a few hours, he was diagnosed with gall bladder issues warranting a “one hour” surgery to remove his gall bladder.
Easy enough. Quick fix. Minor incision, remove the gall bladder, and we’re done.
One hour operation, and back home in the morning...back to “normalcy”.
Sure. However, remember this is ultra man Dan. He does e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g ultra.
Nearly four hours later, the surgeon explained to JoAnn that Dan’s gall bladder had disintegrated inside his body – something rarely seen, and explanation as to “why” unknown.
No big deal. Hurdle taken in stride.
Dan simply began walking the hallway as instructed the following morning. However, he had a few falls – unexplainable, uncontrollable spills as he made his way down the halls of the hospital.
What was happening? Ultra man Dan couldn’t w-a-l-k down a hallway?!
Within a few hours he continued to lose function, lose control of his body. Within merely a few days he lost total capability to sit up and was so incapacitated with Morphine, JoAnn was making all decisions regarding his well-being.
Dan’s health was going south, fast! Thankfully, a neurologist did some tests and was able to offer a “label” for what was going on with his body – funny how we incessantly, innately need a label to offer solace as we comprehend, grasp the magnitude or simply understand adversity with which we are faced.
Guillain Barre Syndrome. That was Dan’s labeled diagnosis. Simply put, his body was at war with itself. His auto-immune system (the system that attacks the “bad” germs or what is perceived as the “enemy” in our body) was attacking his peripheral nervous system (the system that allows you the sensation of feel or touch.)
Remember this is ultra man Dan – he does everything in an ultra way! In addition to his disintegrated gall bladder that was only supposed to take an hour of surgery and the diagnosed Guillain-Barre Syndrome, he also developed Bell’s Palsy, to boot! Worse, he took the Guillain-Barre Syndrome to the nth degree – his heart, lungs, kidneys, and other vital organs began shutting down.
What did all this mean? Discussions of a ventilator, a living will. This was meaning our faithful family man, our weather man, our ultra man Dan’s death.
Not on his watch!
After six days of immunoglobulin therapy, he turned a much awaited, prayer-answered corner. He still had an ultra recovery ahead of him as he spent nearly two months in the hospital, had to relearn how to sit up in bed, transfer from a bed to a wheelchair, transfer from the wheelchair to the car, take his first steps with aid of a walker, graduate to a cane, and progress to walking with no assistance! In addition, he developed and battled blood clots – come on man! Enough is enough!!
His progress was seemingly painfully slow, until he made it home. Once home, his progress and recovery was amazingly rapid. His progress and recovery has been a test of determination, persistence, resilience and will. He attributes a great deal of his success to his training as an ultra athlete and is thankful to be a part of the TATUR group, as he and the founder Brian Hoover master-minded the inception of the group on a long run not so long ago.
When asked if he believed ultra marathons were the “cause” of his recent battle with death, he simply said “no”. Guillain –Barre Syndrome knows no bounds. Young, old, healthy, even Andy Griffin had Guillain – Barre and as Dan cheekily added, “I don’t think Andy knocked out any ultras.”
Ultra endurance events are a parallel to the daily life struggles we each face. Filled with unpredictable personal triumphs and challenges (whether it be terrain, weather conditions or individually physical), momentary highs and lows, Dan believes his training and experience in ultra events prepared him to face the ultra battle for his life. Further, JoAnn is ironically convinced his tangle with death saved his life, as he has become a more “balanced” person – a word when spoken out-loud makes Dan noticeably, physically uncomfortable…the word JoAnn refers to as the “b-word”.
Since his recovery, his biggest challenge has been being patient, recognizing and embracing his “normalcy” of anew, and trying not to “overdo it”. He is re-focusing his goals to be competitive at shorter distances, freeing up time to participate in a race, come home and mow the lawn, and have plenty of time to take his lovely, beautiful bride out for lunch.
Though his days of ultra marathoning are seemingly over, both Dan and JoAnn appreciate what the ultra world has offered them – lot’s of fond and not-so-fond memories, life-long buddies and deeply-seeded friendships, body awareness, endurance, resilience, and confidence to persevere in the most ferocious face of life’s adversity. They are incredibly grateful for all the love, support, and out-reach throughout their experience and appreciate your concern, your interest.
Tulsa is an ultra place to live, with lots of ultra people.
