Tom Mayenburg has been trying to live a healthier life after suffering a stroke a few years ago. His road to recovery started when a nurse told him he was blessed with having a huge family. Since then he has worked on trying to make himself healthy and happy.
Mayenburg was 10 when he and his nine siblings arrived in Canada during 1950, and has been living in Powell River ever since. He described some of his childhood growing up during the war before moving to Canada, a time when his family had very little food. “My mom used flour and water mixed together so we could feel full, since there was never much food at the time.”
He is now a 73-year-old grandfather of 10. “I have more grandkids than fingers because I lost one in an accident when I was young.”
Mayenburg has spent the past few years steadily improving the quality of his health by becoming more physically active after the stroke crippled his right arm. “Once you lose the use of your arm then what do you have?” Mayenburg said. “You just have to move on with that.”
He described his self-imposed workout that involves tasks like cutting firewood, a difficult task with only one arm. At one point he set up a system of bungee cords that would allow him to eventually lift his arm up over his head. Another solution involved using duct tape to attach his hand to a chainsaw so that he could cut the wood he needed.
Rowing and swimming at Powell River Recreation Complex pool have become the mainstays of his fitness regime. His efforts have paid off as the intensive workout has given him the majority of control and strength needed to lift his arm above his head again.
With the help of his brother 14 years ago, Mayenburg finished building a rowboat, started by a friend, and now it has become a staple in his life. “We finished it in my house in the basement,” he said proudly. Keeping the rowboat near a cabin at Lois Lake, Mayenburg spends at least three hours a day rowing to help keep his body healthy.
He has used the rowboat so much that, with the help of his grandchildren, he has gone through three sets of paddles during the boat’s life. He taught each of his grandchildren how to row the boat by the time they were around six years old. “I can’t really control what they do with the boat,” Mayenburg said with a big laugh.
“I also have a tin boat that I sit on the bow and paddle like a canoe,” Mayenburg added. He often paddles the tin boat out from the sandy beach on the other side of the lake to his cabin where he is be able to get off safely using a special ramp.
Mayenburg did not always enjoy being around water. He learned to swim only when he was 20 years old. “Since we lived at the Shinglemill, right next to Powell Lake, I was pushed in the water a lot by other kids and nearly drowned three times.”
His current daily fitness routine involves a lot more than sports. “Swimming helps a lot, but you have to do other things as well,” Mayenburg said, describing his diet plan as healthy. “I have a big breakfast, and then an orange or pear for lunch, and spinach salad for dinner. I’ve cut meat out of my diet almost completely.”
Mayenburg will be 74 this year, and plans to continue his new lifestyle. “The stroke made a big difference in my life,” he said. “My mom used to say the number of years we have are written on the bottom of our foot, we just can’t see it yet.”
His mother’s words and his family around him continue to inspire him to make sure that he can live for as long as possible, and watch as his family continues to grow.
