January 2016 – Almost 4 years ago, Carol had both of her legs amputated above the knee. She lost the left one in December 2011 and the right one in July 2012. She hadn’t suffered from a lengthy illness. Carol was a vibrant woman who loved her work as a Personal Support Worker (PSW), and her clients loved her. Then one day, she woke up and her legs had stopped working. It was vascular disease.
She was in and out of the hospital for the next year. It broke her spirit and she retreated inwards. As Carol says, “I was stiff as a board and in an awful state.” Carol was depressed and feeling like there was no reason to live. You see, her request for prosthetic legs had been denied. You need a tremendous amount of upper body strength to be able to walk on 2 artificial legs with double above-the-knee amputations.
Fast forward to last winter. Carol’s neighbour told her about LiquidGym; she said she thought LG was just what Carol needed. But Carol has never liked the water and was apprehensive about trying it out. She did, though, last March. Carol overcame her fear of water and got in the pool to start working on her upper body strength. And she hasn’t looked back since.
For the past 10 months, Carol has had weekly personal training sessions at LiquidGym, and her progress has been tremendous. Now Carol can do her own transfers from her wheelchair to her bed. Her goal is to increase her upper body strength enough so that she’ll be approved for prosthetic legs. And then she plans to walk through our doors.
When I asked Carol for one word or phrase to describe her relationship with LiquidGym, she couldn’t stop at just one: “Fantastic! I came to life when I came here. You gave me my life back.”
Update May 2016 – Remember LiquidGym Member Carol? She’s been working with one of our personal trainers since March 2015. Yesterday, I saw Carol heading in for her weekly workout with Tracy. And she was very excited to show me that she can now stand in her wheelchair. You can see the determination on her face. Carol said to me, “I’m going to walk again.” Yes you are, Carol. Keep up the great work!