Andrea Lytle Peet was thirty-three years old when she received the death sentence of her diagnosis. Grappling with the fact that she will likely become paralyzed and die within two to five years, Andrea experienced an unexpected spark that evolves into a seemingly impossible goal: to become the first person with ALS to complete a marathon in all fifty U.S. states on her recumbent trike. In her mission, she recaptures the freedom of racing and inspires others to appreciate their bodies.
HOPE FIGHTS BACK chronicles what happens when we choose to live instead of waiting to die. Andrea’s words are awe-inspiring for athletes and non-athletes alike. The reader intimately witnesses her tenacity, determination and bravery, not only in taking on her goal, but in her day-to-day life. In a world where “hope” sometimes feels quiet and aspirational, Andrea reveals that hope is, instead, a valiant warrior that changes everything when it fights back.
Andrea Lytle Peet was thirty-three years old when she received the death sentence of her diagnosis. Grappling with the fact that she will likely become paralyzed and die within two to five years, Andrea experienced an unexpected spark that evolves into a seemingly impossible goal: to become the first person with ALS to complete a marathon in all fifty U.S. states on her recumbent trike. In her mission, she recaptures the freedom of racing and inspires others to appreciate their bodies.
HOPE FIGHTS BACK chronicles what happens when we choose to live instead of waiting to die. Andrea’s words are awe-inspiring for athletes and non-athletes alike. The reader intimately witnesses her tenacity, determination and bravery, not only in taking on her goal, but in her day-to-day life. In a world where “hope” sometimes feels quiet and aspirational, Andrea reveals that hope is, instead, a valiant warrior that changes everything when it fights back.
Pre-diagnosis: January 2013
The foreshadowing of my death appeared in my right index finger.
It was a freezing January morning in Washington, DC, and I was swimming in a brightly lit indoor pool. To motivate myself, I pretended I was in a sparkling ocean somewhere exotic with the sun shining down. It helped.
My father-in-law, Dr. Dave, and I were swim training for our next triathlon. (Dr. Dave is not to be confused with my husband—David—who is a lawyer, not a doctor.)
My entire body glided through the silky warm water—but not my right index finger. I swam with full-body, smooth grace. Except that finger staging a vicious, strange, and ridiculous protest.
Come on, finger, get with the program.
I imagined an “off” day for an index finger was a rare thing—probably even rarer to notice such a minute detail. But it was distracting and throwing off my swim game.
I reached over the swim rope during a lap break and showed Dr. Dave.
“It’s weird,” I said, pulling my goggles onto my forehead. “I can’t fully extend my finger when I take a stroke. It’s, like, stuck or something.”
He pulled off his goggles and squinted. My hand looked like a crooked old-lady hand—all pruned up from the swim and with that odd, stubbornly bent finger.
Dr. Dave wiggled my fingers a few times. He shook the water out of his ears.
“Huh. Well, we could tape your fingers together?” Family doctors and fathers-in-law are clearly not prone to alarm.
“Nah,” I said.
I returned my goggles to my face. I decided to finish the swim strong.
Which I did. But the finger didn’t quite get unstuck until hours later.
Looking back, it was the first sign of ALS. The very first breadcrumb in a long, miserable trail of questions leading to the definitive answer: You are going to die.
I was thirty-one years old that day and had no idea that a “stuck” finger was the beginning of the end. The beginning of a life changed abruptly and forever. The beginning of my search for meaning and purpose.
It seems narcissistic or idiotic now, but honestly, I had never given death any thought.
I didn’t believe I was invincible. I simply believed I had time. That there would always be enough time, enough hours, enough hugs and kisses, more triathlons and countless marathons to look forward to.
I lived with the expectation of a classically beautiful, long life with my husband, David. There would be kids—who knew how many or when—but kids were in the expectation, the vision. And after we retired, maybe I’d learn to knit or start playing the French horn again. Maybe I would do 5Ks with the grandkids. They’d exclaim, “Wow, Grandma. You are fast!”
Or maybe I’d be crotchety and point with my little-old-lady finger while saying “Get off my lawn!”
A bent finger in the pool. A crooked old-lady finger. The start of my perfect little-old-lady dream life disintegrating before my eyes.
Hope Fights Back is the story of Andrea Lytle Peet. When she was 33 years old she was diagnosed with ALS. Most people with ALS die within 5 years. Once Andrea got over the initial shock of all of this, she decided that since she could no longer run marathons she would race them on a trike. She also decided that she was going to complete a marathon in each of the 50 states, hoping to finish with the Boston Marathon. She also started getting tattoos - a swallow bird on her arm for every year she lived past her "expiration date".
This book was very emotional. You go through all the doctors appointments with Andrea as her mobility begins to decline and she is looking for answers. When things seemed hopeless, you find out that Hope Fights Back and Andrea always seems to pick herself back up and find something to fight for with the help of her very supportive husband, friends and family. When Covid hits in the middle of her quest to get these marathons done you feel for her - because you know she doesn't have all that much life ahead of her. I teared up several times - but her perseverance also put a huge smile on my face even more times. The hurdles she had to jump to get some of these races to allow her to join them, sometimes seemed worse than some of the hills she had to bike during her races but Andrea either found a way or found a way to pivot. You'll see when you read about what happened with Boston.
This book was very emotional but also brought me so much joy and now I have to figure out how I can see the documentary about Andrea and her marathons that was filmed throughout the book, especially after hearing about some of the things that happened behind the scenes!Â