Local teacher turns to rock & ice climbing despite damaged back
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (CBS 58)--It's one thing to defy gravity, and another to defy your doctors--meet the local woman who did both! Despite living with constant back pain, a teacher says she chooses to push her limits.
"I just have to see it, I have to experience it, I have to do it," explained Sharon Jaensen-Rugaber.
During the day, she teaches 'at-risk' students in Wauwatosa, otherwise known as youth who may be in danger of not meeting the standard academic goals.
"We have kids who have this untapped genius that really just needs to be exposed," she said. "How do we help them see that they can do things? Somewhere along the line they stopped believing that they could."
And in her spare time, Jaensen-Rugaber works at the Milwaukee Turners Climbing Gym--the second oldest in the country.
"This is where I come to, this is my happy place," she said.
That's the same mindset that she carries for herself.
Jaensen-Rugaber opened up about a back injury she had in her pre-teen years, which has gotten progressively worse.
"I had this, like, bone growth and then some disc problems because of it, and it got to the point, like, the pain was unbearable," she went on to say.
Jaensen-Rugaber's back began to impact her ability to run--a hobby that's pushed her to participate in a couple of marathons. She underwent a spinal surgery last year and doctors told her even then, she'd likely face permanent pain.
"I had one doctor that I was seeing for my back who told me I could never run again, so I just didn't go back," she said giggling.
Her gym climbing manager Kim Kosmitis was in disbelief. Until now, he had no clue she lives in such pain.
"No idea that she had the back issues...when she's climbing, she seems perfectly fine; when she's roaming around here she seems perfectly fine," he said.
Kosmitis added that it's actually not uncommon for people with disabilities to try rock climbing.
"We had one young man who was paralyzed from the waist down who was climbing with us, so I've seen a lot of people do climbing with an assortment disability--whether they're physical, emotional, cognitive kinds of disabilities and have done really well in this sport because it does allow them to use their strengths," Kosmitis said.
Jaensen-Rugaber's strength is her determination. She said she barely sleeps and is currently unable to drive, but she keeps going.
"I'm so angry and a nice heavy little, like, layer of denial on top of that, that I don't want the things that I love being taken from me," she said. "I want to decide what my limits are, I don't want my back or something that happened in the past that caused the damage to determine what I'm going to do with my today."
She said it's all thanks to a friend who opened her eyes to the thrilling world of ice climbing.
After two months of consistently waking up early to train and do physical therapy, she alongside her teacher-friend went to the Munising Ice Festival in Michigan.
"You've got these sharp ice tools in your hand and you're just like 'rawrrr' and you know, and they go into the wall and it's just like all of a sudden you just feel this, like, this rush of strength and power," she explained. "And at the same time, it was also the most peaceful because you have to focus so much on what you're doing, like, your mind just goes quiet and it's just you and the ice."
Ice climbing is a male-dominated sport, and Jaensen-Rugaber hopes to be a leading example for other non-traditional climbers to push past the fear factor and try something new.
"You know, you only have one life and I just want to absorb as much as I can and see as much as I can," Jaensen-Rugaber said. "It's just taking that first step of just deciding: 'I'm not going to sit here anymore, I have to, I have to get up and go do something.'"