Life offers Lift

   Two years ago Louise Rowe of Snellville was just lying around waiting to die. Dealing with three angioplasties, colon surgery, breast cancer, neuropathy and Parkinson's disease over a four-year period had left her bedridden. Had she watched TV and ate bonbons all her life, this might not have been so drastic a lifestyle change, but having done aerobics twice a week, bowled once a week and walked four miles a day, Rowe was down in every sense of the word.
"I'd go to sleep hoping I wouldn't wake up," Rowe said.

   But a visit from her nephew Reverend Steve Smartt at least got her moving. After he prayed with her, she felt inspired to ask for her walker. It was a step. A wobbly one, but it was a step.

   Last month, at age 87, Rowe traveled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to break her own world record in bench press. (She'd set her first world record in Atlanta in April.)

   Now I don't mean to sound irreverent, but this took more than just a prayer. When her doctor realized she was able to get up, he told her she needed to exercise to strengthen her muscles. Rowe's daughter Carolyn Wiggins worked out regularly with fitness trainer, George Herring and took her mother along one day.

   "When I saw this woman hobbling in here with a walker I thought there's someone who couldn't beat her way out of a wet paper bag," said Herring.
Herring, who claims 43 world records in weight lifting, is not one to shy away from a challenge, but he refused to work with her without a note from her doctor.
Note in hand, he started Rowe off with some simple exercises and before he knew it she moved around the gym without her walker. Rowe's husband Wyman drives her to the gym twice a week where she pumps iron with teenagers and fellow seniors like Shirley Martine, age 61 of Lilburn and Louise Collier, age 73, of Stone Mountain. Both of these ladies had already set world records and were an inspiration to Rowe.

   When Rowe returned with her 45-pound victory, her neighbors welcomed her with a big banner. Her grandchildren and great-grandchildren she said "were just carried away." Rowe proclaimed, "I did it! Let's party!" and planted both trophies on her mantle like the rest of us might display heirloom candlesticks.
"If someone told me two years ago that I'd be doing this today, I'd never have believed it, " said Rowe.

   "If someone told me two years ago that you'd still be alive today, I'd never have believed it," quipped her sister Mary.

   The next world meet is in Reno in November. Rowe's limit is approaching 60 pounds. Will she be there to defend her title?

   "That's a long way off. I don't know where I'll be then."

   When Rowe weighs in on her final decision, I'm betting she'll be in Reno. 

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