World's strongest adaptive woman lives in northern Ontario

Warren woman earns international title A woman from Markstay-Warren has a new title to show off, the world's strongest adaptive woman, after a recent competition in Florida.

When it comes to the world's strongest, adaptive woman, look no further than northern Ontario.

Kari Thibeault of Markstay-Warren lives with multiple sclerosis (MS) and recently returned home with the title after a 'strongman' competition in Florida.

For Thibeault, it's a massive accomplishment that she can add to her string of other 'strongman' titles that she has earned.

What's even more impressive is she's only been training for about a year.

However, it's a journey that first began in 2002 when she first was diagnosed with the neurological disease.

"I was just a regular mom. I had four kids, I was stripping my floors and noticed eye pain and within a week, I lost my vision in my right eye," Thibeault said.

"It took a week to figure out what was going on and they figured out I had MS."

When it comes to symptoms, she said, training has worked wonders for her mental health.

"I have a lot of fatigue, so a lot of times I have to force myself to train but in the end I'm glad I did," she said.

"I was very depressed for years. I was just kind of waiting for life to stop and then this came along and I found myself again, glimmers of myself here and there."

The 49-year-old laughs the weightlifting doesn't help so much with the pain, but it's taught her tenacity and how to push through the day-to-day issues.

"It's not disabled, it's 'is-abled,' and you just cross of the 'D' and there I am," she said.

The competition was Thibeault's first time in an airplane and leaving Ontario, but was excited for the new adventure.

She told CTV News in an interview, the contest had to be adjusted a little because they didn't have the equipment they needed for her to compete.

They added new equipment instead that she hadn't trained on for some time, which left her having to be more flexible.

When it came down to the end, it would be Thibeault leaving with the gold around her neck.

"I was extremely proud, I was very proud that I stuck through everything and worked my way up to this," she said.

"Honestly, the thing that I felt the most honoured with this title was to have a voice to tell people that you can do it too … whatever it is that you enjoy doing, do it, because it'll change your day and who knows how it'll end up. You might become the world's most-strongest adaptive person."

Thibeault has some advice for others who might find themselves in similar positions.

"Do things that are uncomfortable, even if you just want to stay in bed, do the things to keep living," she said.

Support has come from all over the region, from helping her raise the funds to get to the competition to signs outside the local grocery store.

Her long-time partner Emmanuel Poitras told CTV News he couldn't be more proud.

"Yeah, I'm extremely proud of her," Poitras said.

"Kari's worked extremely hard to get here and it's nice to see all the hard work that she's put in has paid off for her."

Next, Thibeault is off to compete in Elliot Lake at the end of this month in a bid to defend some of her world titles.