Australian Olympic hero Michael Klim has revealed a gut-wrenching health diagnosis.
The 44-year-old told The Project he is battling chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) – a condition that has left him unable to walk unassisted.
“The body is trying to protect itself, but it’s eating its own tissue,” Klim said.
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“In my case it’s eating the outside of my nerves.”
Klim has lost all feeling in both his feet – as well both his calves and his left quad – and now needs a walking stick or braces to simply move around.
It’s heartbreaking news for the man who won two Olympic gold medals for Australia, as well as five Commonwealth Games gold medals and a number of world titles in various events.
Klim wore the green and gold at three Olympic Games. At Sydney in 2000 he famously broke the 100m freestyle world record when swimming the first leg of Australia’s record-breaking 4x100m freestyle relay victory.
His third and final Games was 2004 in Athens, where he won silver with the 4x200m freestyle relay team. He retired from swimming in 2007.
It was three years ago when Klim first realised something was not quite right with his feet.
He says he had to sit on the floor of Kuala Lumpur airport because his legs could not support the weight of his body.
“I called (his partner) Michelle (Owen) and I was literally in tears, because I couldn’t pinpoint what it was,” he said.
Owen – with whom Klim now lives in Bali – said there had been signs of something wrong for a while before the diagnosis.
“There was one significant moment where Michael kept falling over and was unable to hold himself up and it was happening in front of the kids too,” Owen said.
“That was when they really thought there’s something really going on with dad and it was quite scary for them to see that.”
While the couple live in Bali with Klim’s three children, he needs to travel to Sydney regularly to have treatment for the condition.
The swimming great is trying not to let the diagnosis get on top of him and his enjoyment of life.
“I give myself an hour a day to feel sorry and angry and frustrated and whatever emotion comes in my mind – and then I move on with the rest of life.”
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