Project Walk- Derek's Update

Where do I start? Project Walk is the best thing I have ever done. Project Walk is a really intense physical therapy program, like nothing I have ever done. It’s great. I feel if I am going to get anything back it is by going there.

There are currently three locations California, Seattle, and Boston. I really want to go as long as possible, but they don’t take insurance so I am not sure how long I can go. I will go until I can’t go anymore. Hopefully, I can go longer than shorter.

I learned about the Boston site through their web site. The guy who started the Boston site is named Dan. He is a pretty amazing guy. He can walk now with a walker. Before he did Project Walk in California, he had very limited movement in his hands and was confined to a chair, but with hard work and determination to get out of that chair he made it. Dan got hurt diving off a boat into shallow water and broke his neck. He did all the traditional therapies with minimum success similar to me. He knew if he was going to get better he would have to do intense therapy. That’s when he decided to go to Project Walk in California, and he went there for 5 years. But now he is out of a chair, living on his own, and driving. Even though he can walk now he still works to maintain what he has gotten back and to get stronger. He still has minimum hand strength but enough to live on his own. He is a really good motivator because you can see there is light at the end of the tunnel. Dan is at the Boston site everyday. He is a liaison for prospective clients.

We made contact with PW before China to make sure I could go there when I got back. Bieke Biotech said to get intense therapy when I got back from China, and this definitely is intense. So when we got back we didn’t waste any time getting in touch with them.
The hardest part is finding funds for it. They do not take insurance because they don’t want to be regulated on what they can do. They know some people take longer than others and insurance companies want to see instant progress. At PW they know that some may progress faster than others.

I had to have a bone density test done before I started because they do a lot of weight bearing exercises. I did that at home around here. That wasn’t too invasive on me.

The next step in the equation was how would I get down there and where would I stay? It is very convenient that Dustin and MacKenzie live near PW, 45 minutes away so we would stay with them. To say thank you for letting us stay with them, we bring them down dinner. With Shannon’s help, she drives me down, takes care of me, and takes me to PW. It works out great.
I am at PW for about 3-4 hours, 3 days a week. When I am there it is non-stop from the beginning to the end. They don’t give your muscles too much time to relax. They like to keep them fired up.

I do many different exercises there. They do a lot with your core because you need your core to walk.

They have an FES bike which is a bike that helps move your legs with electro- stimulation. Your legs feel fatigued after it. I also use their power plate. It is a machine that sends an intense vibration through your whole body. They get me standing on it to get full potential out of it. The Russian astronauts invented it so they would not loose bone density while in space. It’s a pretty awesome machine. I do a lot on their total gym. The total gym is a board on an incline so I can lie on it and do leg presses. We also do various core exercises because you need that to walk. I do the hand bike, but I do it standing so it is much more intense. We do various mat work exercises, the standing frame, and many other things.

There are thirty-seven people in the program currently, people who go there and also people doing the home program. Everybody is in different stages.

I see some of the same people each time and some new ones. There was a client there who was going to China to the same hospital I went to so he had a bunch of questions for me.
I’ve meet some pretty neat people. There is a girl there from Pennsylvania. She was in a car accident, and her goal was to walk down the aisle for her wedding. She was able to walk with leg braces under her wedding dress. She said there was not a dry eye in the church. She has a Newfoundland as a guide dog. There was a guy at Shake A Leg, who has a dog, but it’s no Newfoundland.

I am going back to Shake A Leg this summer. I can’t wait. I am so excited. It should be a good time. I will keep you informed on how things are going.

Bye –D-