Man looks to MU football player, finds inspiration to overcome health problems

Kathryn Johnson submitted the following account of her husband’s, Berle G. Johnson, journey of overcoming health obstacles and finding inspiration to compete in powerlifting. Berle will be competing in the Show-Me STATE GAMES powerlifting competition on Saturday, July 23.

“My husband, Berle G. Johnson, and I meet sixteen years ago.  Both of us had struggled with successful relationships and the pain of divorce.  After ‘testing the waters,’ so to speak, we were married in November of 2003.

I learned early on that Berle, if he put his mind to it, could and had overcome obstacles that many would find insurmountable.

As a child, Berle was very interested in athletics.  Baseball was a passion for him.  He was shorter and smaller than normal for much of his early life before experiencing a growth spurt in his mid-teens.  He aspired to a future in baseball and was well on his way when his vision became less than perfect, limiting his ability to excel in that sport.  He had indicated an interest in weight lifting, but his coach discouraged him.  The popular belief at that time was that weight lifting would make an athlete muscle bound, limiting flexibility.

He went on to college majoring in political science with sights on law school, but just before he could realize that goal it became clear that his ‘number was up’ and he would be drafted into the military during the Vietnam War.  Hoping to have some control over his destiny, he joined the Marines.  As his service began late in the War he was not  deployed overseas and served out his tour of duty stateside.

When discharged from the military, he was faced with redirecting his career plans and, through a series of events and personal contacts, he found himself in restaurant management, where he remained for about 20 years.  Eventually he moved on to his own business in tax accounting and bookkeeping and, later, also owning and operating a sports and memorabilia retail shop.

In 1988, Berle was involved in a very serious automobile accident.  His family was summoned to the hospital as the medical team felt his survival was in question.  He tells me he remembers in his semiconscious state hearing the doctor tell his brother that he felt his death could be imminent.  He said he thought to himself ‘there is no way I am going to die.’ After surviving the most life threatening injuries, he was left with a fractured hip and a broken kneecap. He spent months in the hospital rehabilitating.

Early in his hospitalization, it was noticed that his blood sugar was abnormally high and after unsuccessful attempts to control it with oral medication he was placed on insulin.  It was eventually determined that his pancreas was no longer functioning and it would be necessary for him to remain on insulin for the rest of his life.  Berle eventually began using the insulin pump to better control his blood sugar levels.  In 2007, he experienced a catastrophic blood sugar drop, due to a malfunction in this system that resulted in a diagnosed hypoxic brain injury.  There would later be a recall of a part of this system known to over or under infuse insulin.

Now, back to his determination and perseverance!  Over the years, as many do, Berle had gained weight, and allowed himself to get out of shape. A devout Mizzou sports fan, he happened to read a couple of articles about Tiger football player Tommy Saunders.  While going full time to school, on a football scholarship, with all of the training and practice demands, Tommy still found time to commute back to Kearney, Mo., to spend evenings with his dying, beloved grandpa, and then drive back to Columbia on short sleep, and repeat the day again. As if this wasn’t demanding enough, Tommy found a way to do 100,000 pushups in a year in what little remaining time he had! This amazing combination of love and perseverance left its mark on Berle, and he felt if Tommy could maintain that schedule, he had no excuses for not achieving his goals. Beginning in April, he improved his conditioning until he was running 5 miles per day, doing over 100 pushups, and performing 200-300 varying manners of crunches daily. By November, he had lost 54 lbs. Interested in pursing weight training, Berle joined a local gym in November of 2009.  He employed a personal trainer to help him reach a goal he had set for himself.  That goal was to compete in the Missouri Show-Me STATE Games in 2011 and win his division.

To achieve that goal, he would need to lose weight and build muscle, both of which are difficult for an insulin dependent diabetic.  He was hampered by a condition known as “insulin resistance” that afflicts many long-term diabetics and makes weight loss and muscle development much more challenging.  He worked very, very hard and to the amazement of his trainer progressed much faster than anticipated! Due to his progress he decided to “fast forward” his plans and entered the Missouri Show-Me STATE Games in 2010! That morning at the weigh-in before the event, he ended up in the line behind Coach Pat Ivy, the Strength and Conditioning coach. They struck up a conversation, and Berle told the coach, the Saunders story. Later, he came away with two gold medals in his age and weight class! After the bench press competition, while sitting in the gym, coach Ivy approached Berle. The coach handed him his cell phone, and told him to speak to the person on the other line. It was Tommy Saunders! They spoke for a few minutes, and it was thrill for Berle to converse with the young man whose story had reached him at that perfect point in time.  Did I mention, by the way, that at the time of this competition Berle was sixty years old?

Again this year, Berle has his sights set on the Show-Me STATE GAMES.  His business as a tax account seriously hampers his training from mid December through early May, as during this time he works an average of seventy hours a week.

There are many impressive stories out there of individuals overcoming obstacles, many as, or more severe than those of my husband, yet many have expressed amazement at his accomplishments given his challenges. But… the word “obstacle” is not in his vocabulary.”

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