A fever for victory

By Marc McGowan
BERWICK athlete Emma Baldwin admits she ‘didn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel’ in the middle of her battle with Q Fever.
But the 31-year-old has renewed hope of a bright future after winning two gold and one silver at the Australian Masters Athletics Championships in Adelaide over the Easter weekend.
Emma previously competed against Olympian Tamsyn Lewis on the track and finished second to the 15-time national champion in the 800m at the 2007 Victorian Athletics Championships.
Emma was bed-ridden soon after that monumental achievement when her body finally relented to constant illness and fatigue.
Renowned doctor Geoff Kemp ended 12 months of frustration for her when he diagnosed her with Q Fever.
Symptoms include extreme tiredness and muscle pain and Emma also needs to avoid UV rays and bright lights due to a vitamin D intolerance.
A typical day during the worst times involved her putting her now almost three-year-old son, Tyler, to bed and she would also head for what she calls a ‘nana nap’.
Emma had to stop working full-time as an occupational therapist and has cut yeast, dairy and sugar out of her diet.
She still suffers from the disease, but has seen massive improvement since starting treatment with Kemp six months ago and is hopeful of being cleared in the near future.
“I guess 12 to 18 months ago I didn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel and I wasn’t sure if I’d get back to competing,” Emma said last Friday. Last weekend was quite pleasing and encouraging to reach a level where I could compete again, so I was quite happy with that. I’m obviously at a different level to what I was and it’s a little bit disheartening, but I’ve made quite a bit of improvement in the last three months with my running and that’s encouraging.”
Her 46-year-old husband, Terry, who won two gold and two silver medals at the same championships, is her coach at Athletics Waverley.
Terry, who has worked in Pakenham for 23 years, has been involved at the club since 1971.
His athletics highlights include being part of a Waverley team with former Commonwealth Games athlete Robert Stone that set a still-standing national under-20 4 x 200m relay club record in 1982.
Terry says he only started taking the sport seriously after turning 30, but has since racked up a stunning number of achievements, particularly in the decathlon, and held a masters world record until recently.
He, too, has endured several setbacks, including a series of soft-tissue injuries.
“Hopefully this is the start of a lot more success,” Terry said. “We’ve both been struggling over the last couple of years and there have been times when you sort of think ‘Why bother?’, but we love to do it. It’s fantastic the way she’s fought back. There were times there where she was in tears and basically just wanted to sleep all day.”
They have altered their training to suit their individual conditions and now do a lot of boxing and other strengthening exercises alongside their athletics-specific preparation.
Both Emma and Terry are hoping to have a major impact at the World Masters Games in Sydney in October, but the former is also aiming to return to competing against the likes of Lewis.
“My short-term goal is to win a medal at the World Masters in October,” she said. “Then obviously my long-term goal is to get back to running at national open age group with the Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games athletes. That’s not to say I will, but I’m hoping to.”