Nadine Hyatt - My Struggle, My Story, My Success

Nadine Hyatt - My Struggle, My Story, My Success

I think my head finally stopped spinning as I walked off the stage at the 2013 Luchka-O’Brien Classic with my second place trophy. It was a justifiable culmination to a whirlwind seven-week journey that saw me getting into my suit a mere four days before I was scheduled to hit the stage.

But the start of those intense seven weeks under the tutelage of my coach and friend, IFBB pro Kim Tilden, actually began some four years earlier when an act of selflessness nearly put an end to an active lifestyle, never mind my athletic aspirations.

In the early morning hours of Valentine’s Day in 2009, I was awoken by a commotion outside my home. Seeing flames shooting out of a neighbour’s house, my instinct to aid another kicked into overdrive and I rushed into the burning building to help an elderly resident and her family escape the inferno.

I was honoured with a plaque for heroism for my quick-thinking efforts. I also got severe spinal and nerve damage. It took a couple days for my nerves to settle down after that fateful night, but when they did, they let me know in no small way that there was something far worse than the herniated disk I had been diagnosed with five years earlier. There was a torn herniated disc, four bulging discs, and nerves coming out of the spine conjoined. Think of a graphic sci-fi horror movie clip and you’ll get a sense of the extent of the injuries.

The initial herniated disc diagnosis had put an end to my aspirations of competing professionally as an MMA fighter and also spelled the end of my sprinting days (which had culminated on the track at Barcelona’s Olympic stadium during the 2003 World Police and Fire Games), as well as my ability to participate in leisure time pursuits such as dragon boat racing.

But I believe there’s good and bad in every life-changing event, and I take solace in knowing my current status as a figure competitor was also a result of my herniated disk diagnosis, or rather, the previous misdiagnosis of hip bursitis, which had taken me to Station Seven Reebok, the Toronto high-performance training facility created by former NHLer Gary Roberts. A face-to-face meeting with Gary taught me that you leave no stone unturned and no medical opinion unsolicited in order to overcome serious injuries and attain your athletic goals—but it takes time.

True to my personal motto of never closing a door before walking through it, that encouragement to seek out the correct diagnosis, the opportunity to train with professional athletes, and properly rehabbing at a sports clinic led me to reading fitness magazines, which piqued my interest in competing on the Ontario Physique Association (OPA) stage, a door I walked through in 2007.

By the time the house fire woke me out of my slumber in February 2009, I was training for a tri-fitness competition in Florida. Tri-fitness blends onstage routines and presentation with obstacle course and fitness challenges for a truly unique competition. It was to be my latest challenge, but this latest setback not only put an end to that but also was threatening to put an end to my lifestyle and my dreams of developing and progressing as a figure competitor.

One surgeon wanted to cut through my abdomen to replace my torn herniated disc, but due to the severe state of the rest of my spine and with its being a newer procedure to Canada at the time, he couldn’t guarantee that I wouldn't be in the same amount of pain in which I was already. Needless to say, I passed and decided to live with my limitations, developing an extremely high pain tolerance in
the process. I do not take medication so that I can feel the pain to know my limits.

That pain threshold was put to the test in 2013, when a motorcycle crushed my right leg. It led to another door opening in my life—a meeting with physiotherapist Joe Haars. He is a wealth of knowledge for how the body functions and continues to work with my coach, Kim Tilden, to help me succeed in figure modeling.

I sought out Kim in February of that year as I was preparing for a photo shoot with a friend in which I was to pose, ironically, with my motorcycle. A month later, Kim offered to dial me in for the 2013 Luchka-O’Brien, and she’s been a source of support and inspiration since, making sure that I take care of my health first, in order to take care of everything else.

And there’s been a lot of everything else—that first step onstage was on the 15th anniversary of my father’s passing from cancer and two months removed from my mom’s diagnosis of brain cancer. She passed a month after my second competition in October 2013 (the KW Oktoberfest Classic). I could go on; it seems my life has been a constant source of hardship and anxiety, but my main source of anxiety is not of stepping onstage. It’s of not stepping on a stage and in effect letting my body slow me down.

When I got my first callout back in May, it took my breath away and made me tear up to hear all those voices in the audience basically validating my hard work, focus, and determination, and at the same time encouraging me to keep moving forward.

I live in pain every day—sitting, bending over, walking, even sleeping and showering—though you wouldn’t know it from looking at me. That’s the way I want it, though I sometimes feel I have the body of an 80-year-old and just want to rest. But there are miles to go before I sleep. I know I have the proper mix of training, nutrition, and medical treatment, as well as a positive support network and I will not lose this. And I will not stagnate.

I can only keep getting better.

Continue to follow my fitness journey on Facebook (Nadine MH) or Instagram (Nadine_MH2003) or Twitter (@NadineMH_2003).