CrossFitter Mike Hart is suffering from an undiagnosed neurodegenerative disease.
It was a beautiful October morning, and the organizers and participants in the Fight for Mike fundraiser could not have asked for a better day. Michael P. Hart, or MPH as he is occasionally known, has been at CrossFit Oldtown in Alexandria, Va., for five years and is currently suffering from an undiagnosed neurodegenerative disease.
Hart, the 2011 Mid-Atlantic Hopper Challenge Masters-champ, coach and all-around vital part of the Oldtown community, began noticing problems earlier this year when he fell during a tennis match and began to struggle with double-unders.
Despite trips to various hospitals, including the National Institute of Health and the Mayo clinic, he remains undiagnosed. To help relieve some of the financial burden from his family, the box created the Fight for Mike fundraiser. What started as a call to the local CrossFit community expanded much further.
Offers of financial and moral support poured in from around the country from affiliates in California, Texas, Illinois, Ohio and even Afghanistan. The fundraiser consisted of a chipper-style workout, designed for teams of two with each movement being done for seventy repetitions. At the end of the workout, each team pulls their last movement out of a fishbowl.
There were so many teams signed up at CrossFit Oldtown, the number of heats had to be expanded. Children roamed around outside and families and friends gathered in small groups to catch up with one another and cheer on the teams. Also at the event were food tents, a raffle and live music from Oldtown box member, Harold Doran.
Even before the fundraiser was considered, Joe Hart, Oldtown member, saw the community of CrossFit rally around his older brother.
“The offers came in almost immediately in terms of ‘Does your brother need anything? Can we take him anywhere? Does he need help with his kids? Can we bring him food?’ I mean, it was pretty much right from the get-go people saying, ‘Hey, what can we do to help?’” he says.
When Mark Davis first started CrossFit, Hart was one of the coaches that really helped encourage him.
“It’s very difficult when you’re older and out of shape to get going. I joined just before my 40th birthday and I was 190 pounds, so 35 pounds heavier than I am now … I really needed to turn my life around and Mike was just one of those guys that always encouraged me to keep going, even when you couldn’t run the 400 meters and had to walk a little bit, he was the guy that said ‘Just keep moving and you’ll get better’ — and that’s the way Mike Hart just is.”
Kate Moran, a local musician and friend of the Hart family, walked into Oldtown and saw Hart walking different than normal and decided to bust his chops a bit. She remembered telling him, “You’re walking like your Dad!”
“That is when he shared with me that he was really having trouble walking. I could see the progression from the Regionals, when he was there, and it was just very scary to watch,” she says.
“Mike has given so much to CrossFit, and all the events that he participates in and how he cheers people on, he’s just amazing … When [people] found out that he needed help, everyone stepped up,” Moran adds.
Affiliate owner and head trainer, Jerry Hill, remembers when Hart first walked into CrossFit Oldtown.
“When Mike walked through the door, I knew right away he was a go-getter. Heck, he’s one of those guys I had to hold back on the reins because he was so gung-ho, but didn’t know the movements. He was always a go-getter, always a team player,” Hill says. “Just always the type of guy you’d want to see walk through the door as a coach and that you wanted to be in the room with when hitting a WOD.”
So, what does Hart think of the fundraiser and all the support he has received from the CrossFit community? “I’m humbled, and thankful and better because of it.”
After the event was over, Hill posted on the Fight for Mike Facebook page that more than $100,000 was raised to help Hart with his medical treatments.
