Iron will

Luray Greenwell turns health around after grief, loss

BY RYAN MARSHALL RMARSHALL@NEWSPOST.COM

Luray Greenwell knew she had to make a change. Although Greenwell, 64, worked out regularly in her 30s and 40s, and said exercise was part of her identity, when her son Nick got addicted to Oxycontin after a motorcycle crash, and battled his addiction for seven years before he died in 2013 at the age of 28, the loss sent her into a spiral of grief, pity and self-hatred.

“I cried for four or five years and ate myself silly,” she said. She eventually quit eating processed sugar, gave up soda and lost a little bit of weight, but she was still smoking.

“I had a food addiction after my son died,” she said. “I had a cigarette addiction.”

The big wakeup call came when she suffered a heart attack in October 2019.

A retired teacher and principal, Greenwell embraced the classes on nutrition and health to which her nurses referred her. As part of her new routine, she became a regular at the Planet Fitness in Frederick and focused on exercise and her diet.

Weighing 219 pounds at her heaviest, she set out to lose 50 pounds. She lost 60 pounds in her first year and has lost 95 pounds overall.

She enjoys working out because, “It makes me feel like I have a purpose,” she said.

What’s the hardest part about making a life-changing decision?

“Even when people doubt you, you keep on going because you know you’re doing the right thing. You don’t have to please anybody in this world but yourself and God.”

Stress is all around us, but you need to find productive ways to handle it rather than unproductive ways, she said. Some people let stress be an excuse for not doing something, but Greenwell said the best relief for stress is exercise.

“The best thing for us when we’re under stress is going to the gym, because it releases endorphins. It’s a feel-good, natural chemical that we all need,” she said.

Since giving up cigarettes, Greenwell said there’s only been one time that she’s been tempted to have a smoke. Driving back from her family’s house in Ocean City on the anniver - sary of Nick’s death, she heard a song come on the radio that reminded her of him. As she was crying on the side of the road, she instinctively reached into her purse for a cigarette.

“And I didn’t have them because I had quit, right? But that was that natural thing of, I’m under stress, I’m sad, I’m going to reach for a cigarette.”

As she struggled to open the case of a cigarette patch to curb her nicotine addiction, a praying mantis flew in the open window of her car.

“I felt like it was my son. I felt like it was my son being there. And I put the praying mantis right in front of me on the window ... and I felt like he was right there saying, ‘Mom, you don’t need it.’ And it was the last time that I ever craved a cigarette.”

Changing your life means not being afraid to challenge yourself, she said.

“Fear is all a state of mind, and so is success.”

Staying motivated means knowing that the next day, you’re going to do more than you did the day before, she added.

Luray Greenwell, 64, became a regular at the Planet Fitness in Frederick, and focused on exercise and her diet. Weighing 219 pounds at her heaviest, she set out to lose 50 pounds. She lost 60 pounds in her first year, and has lost 95 pounds overall.

“When you make changes and you stay consistent, you will see the results. It might take a while, but you will see the results. ... I see a lot of people who say, ‘I can’t do it. I can’t do it.’ I said the same thing. But I see people here [at Planet Fitness] of all shapes, sizes, races and ages. If they’re in here working out, they’re taking an initiative to make themselves better, and that’s great respect. Too many people are too afraid to go out and take care of themselves.”

Her physical and mental recovery have come on a journey back from the darkness of loss and addiction.

“I just love life. And for a long time, I didn’t,” she admitted.

She allows herself one day a month to grieve for her son but otherwise focuses on finding ways to honor his memory.

“He’s my muse,” she said. “I talk to him every day of my life.”

It gives her a motivation to continue her own recovery and personal transformation.

“I would rather focus on the 10,520 days that I had him than on the 5,000some days that I didn’t.”

Follow Ryan Marshall on Twitter: @RMarshallFNP