River Club woman gets chance to reclaim cycling passion

Nancy Janus was impatient as she sat on her “trike” just waiting.

Her husband, Brian Berry, was in the house, fetching a brace to put on his 71-year-old wife’s right leg.

Her husband emerged, brace in hand, and carefully held her leg while he planted it into her shoe.

Janus let out a quiet “ow” as he wrapped the brace in place. Finally, she was ready.

“Anything to be cycling again,” she said.

The trike moved forward, and Janus was off, cruising down her street in River Club and around the cul-de-sac. All the while, she wore a crescent moon grin.

After Janus was struck by a car on March 14, 2012, at the opposite end of the very same road she now rides, she wasn’t sure she would ever again experience the happiness of riding a bike.

The crash left Janus with an incomplete spinal cord injury, which means it was not severed, and in this case, “not even nicked,” Janus said. Instead, it compressed and swelled.

“It looked like a rolled-up carpet on a staircase,” Berry said of the MRI.

Janus spent 28 days in intensive care and was comatose for 10 of those days. She’s not paralyzed now and can slowly move her legs and arms, and even stand at the sink to brush her teeth. That is a recent development, and one of which Janus is proud.

“The doctors were loathe to make predictions,” Berry said, on what his wife would be able to do.

The doctors were surprised by her relearning to walk small distances, and by her returning to teach human development classes at Eckerd College. They were shocked that she’s now returned to cycling, albeit not on her normal bike.

Berry said they wouldn’t be if they knew her.

She was a member of the Sarasota-Manatee Bicycle Club, and once rode 100 miles a week. Her first-ever big ride wasn’t with the club, but something she did on a whim in 2001. While waiting for a dentist appointment, she read about a bike race from Amsterdam to Paris that would raise money for AIDS research.

Janus raised $5,000 for the trip through donations and raffles, and off she went, by herself. The first day was 91 miles over Holland’s cobblestone streets. The weather was dismal, and she roomed with a woman who snored so loudly, Janus had to lie under the bathroom sink to get away from the rumbling.

Despite the circumstances, she had such a great time that she made it her passion.

For a time following the accident, Janus was convinced she would never ride again, though not because of any physical limitations. Adapted tricycles are expensive.

The Kelly Brush Foundation gave Janus a “try it” grant, giving her the money to rent a tricycle for a month.

Janus needs her husband’s help with her brace, and getting in the trike and back in her wheelchair. It’s tough for her. She has always been an independent woman and now her husband has to scratch her neck if she has an itch. It’s the small things that sometimes frustrate her.

When she’s riding, she forgets everything else. For her, the tricycle has been a dream and she hopes she has a good shot at getting a full grant.

Eventually, she would like to help other people with disabilities. The more people who see her riding down the street, the more they’ll believe they can pursue their passions as well, she said.

“I want to encourage others to stay positive,” Janus said. “I could focus on what I can’t do, but I would just be miserable and not getting any better. It’s important to find the bright side.”