Dan Erschen is one of the fortunate ones with MS. MS hit Dan very hard at the ages of 29 and 39 when, for a while, he could not even feed himself much less walk or be mobile. Without changing his meds or eating habits (at the time), he started exercising. He made the first noticeable progress in over 1-1/2 years once he started exercising “consistently”.
Dan was blessed to get his mobility back at the level he could run / bike / swim / hike, etc. He completed six 26.2 mile marathons as well as finishing 3 out of 4 Ironman distance triathlons. An Ironman triathlon consists of a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike ride followed by a 26.2 mile marathon all in the same day; and Dan did this while living with MS. He has also hiked the Grand Canyon from the top to the bottom and back to the top with family and friends.
During these years of regaining his mobility and doing all these events, some friends at Westwood Health and Fitness offered to do an indoor triathlon and include people with MS. That was the start of our MS Just Keep Moving initiative. We recruited 10 people with MS and all 10 people made progress with the ten-week training period prior to their participation and completion of the indoor triathlon.”
After the first indoor triathlon in 2012, Dan decided to renovate some office space and create a room to exercise with his friends with MS and employees of Wisconsin Metal Parts, Inc. He wanted to share his knowledge, experience, and journey of getting his mobility back with others with MS. With the help of the entire MS-Just Keep Moving family, we have been helping as many of our friends with MS as we can since April of 2013.
Today, at the age of 61, while still living with MS, Dan lives with the purpose of loving, serving, creating, and sharing with passion.
