Before Morten went through ileostomy surgery, he had been a keen cyclist. For more than 10 years he had trained and participated in numerous races in the Danish elite class.
The surgery put his cycling on hold. Most people assumed that this was the end of his cycling career. But Morten thought otherwise. He had no intentions of giving up:
"Ever since my operation, I've been determined to live a normal life. Living with a stoma has obviously involved some practical changes in daily routines, but it's not made me give up on any of my personal or professional ambitions".
The Dream of 10:59:59
In fact, Morten did the opposite of giving up: He gave himself the ultimate challenge – to complete an ironman in under 11 hours. That is an incredible 3.8 kilometres of open water swimming, 180 kilometres of cycling, and a full 42 kilometre marathon run to top it off.
Morten felt that if he could accomplish this, he would prove to himself that literally, anything was still possible.
He knew it would take a lot of hard work – and of course, the training would put extra pressure on his ostomy appliance. But Morten soon found that with the right accessories nothing really had to change.
A bag is not the end
Through the countless hours of hard training, his ostomy set-up gave him the security he needed to focus and enjoy his passion for fitness.
Eventually, he felt so confident about the solution that he was ready to reach for his goal and put his training to the test: And as it turns out, he made it with time to spare.
Crossing the finish line in 10:48:59, Morten finally proved – to himself and to the world – that "a bag is not the end"!
In fact, that's the name of Morten's blog.
