Lyme disease puts Hewko’s Gate swim quest on hold

Kathie Hewko’s spirit is willing, but her body is finding it more and more difficult to keep up with her ambition.

Hewko is a swimmer who specializes in the Golden Gate Bridge swim, a challenging journey underneath the length of the famous bridge from San Francisco to Marin. Ninty-one times she has completed the swim, making at least one swim every year for the past 39 years. Her goal is to complete 100 swims by her 70th birthday. To reach that mark now seems like a stretch for Hewko, who turns 67 in October.

It is hard to fight the chill and the tides of San Francisco Bay when there are times it is difficult to walk.

Hewko is continuing her 30-year battle with Lyme Disease, and her symptoms have been especially bad this year. She has missed three opportunities to complete a Golden Gate Swim, and it doesn’t seem likely that she will be able to complete a swim before the end of the year, breaking a string of 39 consecutive years of swimming the span of the bridge.

“My symptoms have gotten worse,” she said. “I haven’t been able o train. Before I get in the water, I want to make sure that mentally and physically I can get across (the bay).”

Although she has been plagued with the symptoms of the disease and what she describes as “co-infections,” since 1985, her health has declined over the last year. “A year ago in July, I woke up and my whole body was shaking. I couldn’t walk,” she explains. “I still have difficulty walking.”

Hewko says she is sharing her story in an effort to make more people aware of the devastating effects of Lyme Disease, a bacterial disease that is introduced into the body by the bite of an infected tick.

While the disease can be treated and cured if caught early, it is often hard to detect, appearing as only a redness and swelling on the skin where the bite occurred. Initial symptoms are flu-like and include fatigue, joint pain and headaches.

As it develops, the symptoms become much more severe and vary from patient to patient.

“A lot of people have it and don’t even know it,” Hewko says. “Caught in time, it is totally curable.”

Not caught in time, it is persistent and insidious. Hewko, after originally being diagnosed, has had periods where she was symptom free, only to have the disease flare up and all but prevent her from getting back into the water.

But even as she endures the pain and frustration, Hewko remains optimistic and determined.

“There are two ways you can look at it,” she says. “You can say, ‘Things are going to change and get better’, or you can give in and say, ‘poor me.’?”

Hewko is convinced things will get better. She continues to learn as much as possible about Lyme Disease and continues to seek all available help. She has twice visited the Mayo Clinic.

Meanwhile she also continues to swim, despite her setbacks. She isn’t ready for the bay yet, but she is back in the pool.

“One of the biggest things I deal with is migraine-like headaches that sometimes last all day, but once I get into the pool I feel so much better. It’s like I’m back home.”