Lowell man he’ll scale tall buildings for charity

LOWELL — Alan Hallowell, 37, of Lowell, has been working in law enforcement since he was 21, but chronic back problems plagued him for years. He is back on his feet after spine-fusion surgery and just rappelled 24 stories down the side of the Hyatt Regency Boston to raise money for Special Olympics Massachusetts.

Q: What did you do before your back problems started?

A: I’ve been a police officer since I was 21 years old in Georgetown, Hampton, N.H., and now Saints Medical Center in Lowell. I’ve been at Saints almost 15 years.

Q: I’m told you also taught police officers martial arts and defensive tactics? What did that entail?

A: It’s basically survival tactics, a little bit mixed-martial arts, a little bit ground-fighting, officer survival. How to keep distance and how to take people down safely and defend yourself.

Q: Does that mean you get to legally beat up police officers? Do they mind?

A: I do, I actually do. Some of them mind. The other guys don’t like it too much.

Q: Have your back problems stopped you from working in law enforcement?

A: No. I missed work prior to my surgery for about three months. I was laid up about three months before surgery. After surgery, I missed some time for recovery, but came back and haven’t missed a day since.

Q: What happened to your back? Was it a specific incident, or just chronic problems?

A: It was over 10 or 12 years. It just progressively got worse and worse and worse. I tried every treatment option available and nothing worked.

Q: You got a spine fusion. What is that, and how tough was it?

A: I went to Newton/Wellesley Hospital. They go in through your side so they don’t disturb big muscular tissues in your back. They use equipment to monitor your nerves and basically pull out a disk, put a metal cage in, and then put fusion material inside the metal cage that over time grows into bone.

Due to my size they also did put two screws in my back, but I’m a 280-pound guy who throws cops around. That’s usually not necessary.

Q: Any advice for others with chronic back problems who are facing this type of issue or surgery?

A: There’s help out there if you go find it. You don’t have to live your life in pain. It’s not the back surgery that it was 20 years ago that everyone tells you not to get. It’s new. There is relief out there.

Q: What was the Over the Edge event for Special Olympics Massachusetts?

A: It was July 21. I rappelled down the Hyatt Regency in Boston, 24 floors, just to raise some dough for Special Olympics. They let 100 people do it if you raised $1,000 a piece. It was sort of a bucket-list thing for me.

Q: Did you have any trouble doing it?

A: I got a little short of breath about halfway down. There’s a safety system on the rope and once it’s activated you have to go through procedure to release it. I was going too fast so it locked up, and it gave you a moment to stop, focus, talk into a radio. It kind of gives you a point to slow down and focus, but it’s a little scary when that happens cause you have to kind of let go and manipulate another rope.

Q: Are you afraid of heights?

A: No. The greatest obstacle of the whole thing was when you’re 24 floors above the ground and you have to rely on half an inch of rope, let go of the building, and hope it holds. I think I’m doing it again next year on the same weekend, though. I might start making it an annual event. I think they raised like $130,000. I raised about $2,700 by going around and getting pledges.