"His life became an uphill struggle just to feel human again"—and Mason Earle was a particularly powerful human. As of early 2018, the then-29-year-old was considered one of the best crack climbers there was. (Crack climbing is a lot what it sounds like, rock climbing in which climbers use cracks and crags in the rock to ascend.) But May 11, 2018, was the last time he climbed, almost certainly ever. As he finished the climb, Earle felt a debilitating pain in his neck. It didn't give way, and as Meaghen Brown writes for Outside, by that December he had been diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS. Brown traces the challenges of the disease: in terms of how much the medical field knows about it (relatively little) and the skepticism that surrounds it, and in Earle's specific case.
He could hardly get out of bed. Light was intolerable, as was "the smallest stimulus, like the sound of a door opening." Doctors came to suspect a combination of genetics and the way he hyperextended his neck while climbing might have put ever-growing pressure on the nerves that pass through part of the spine. They suggested he undergo surgery to stabilize his neck. He did, and Brown writes that his symptoms have eased, but "at a cost." "Basically, my head was fused in this position of relief," he explains, meaning he can't really turn his head from side to side or look up. Climbing is off the table. As for losing his identity as a climber, he explains he "overshot that identity crisis for the much deeper, murkier waters of not being a functional human anymore." (Read the full story.)
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