A Former Pro Climber On Enduring Chronic Illness
Death, Sex & Money
Slate Podcasts
4.6 • 7.6K Ratings
🗓️ 19 May 2021
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Former pro rock climber Mason Earle's career ended in 2018, when he was diagnosed with the chronic illness ME/CFS. He now spends most of his time in bed, and in a series of three phone calls, he reflects on his career and adjusting to life with a disability.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Anna. Before we get started, I want to let you know that this episode features |
| 0:05.1 | some discussion of suicidal thoughts. It happens about 40 minutes in if you'd like |
| 0:10.1 | to skip. |
| 0:11.1 | You know, I really think that chronic illness can really make us our best selves. It softens |
| 0:18.9 | us and gives us so much empathy. |
| 0:22.5 | You feel like that right now that you're the best version of yourself? |
| 0:26.1 | Yeah, probably, but people who've been sick much longer than me say, yeah, I felt that |
| 0:32.8 | way for about the first three years. Now, I just don't care and just don't want to be |
| 0:36.5 | sick anymore. |
| 0:37.5 | I'm like, yeah, you know, I'm kind of starting to see that a little bit. The gratitude is like |
| 0:44.2 | the initial chronic illness phase apparently. I'm on the tail end of it, I think. |
| 0:52.8 | This is Death, Sex, and Money. The show from WNYC about the things we think about a lot |
| 1:01.5 | and need to talk about more. I'm Anna Sadler. |
| 1:12.7 | Mason Earl spends most of his day in bed. That's where he was when I reached him over |
| 1:18.3 | FaceTime. Hey, Mason, how you doing? Yeah, I'm all right. How are you? Good. You might |
| 1:24.1 | notice. |
| 1:25.1 | Mason is 32 and he has a chronic illness called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or MECFS, commonly |
| 1:32.7 | called chronic fatigue syndrome. MECFS is a complex illness with a wide variety of symptoms, |
| 1:40.0 | including muscle and joint pain, memory issues, trouble sleeping, and extreme fatigue. There's |
| 1:46.3 | no known cure. I'm just going to let you sort of guide me on how you're observing your |
| 1:53.6 | energy level and when you want to wrap up and then we can pick up again tomorrow. |
| 1:58.5 | Yeah, I've usually got a pretty solid 30 to 40 minute window where I can be myself |
... |
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