The PRO fitness program: A Works employee and I were talking at length one
day about my lack of motivation. “I do like to run, I can’t play sports and I
don’t want to do another physique challenge. I am goal orientated and without
one I feel lost.” After talking more we parted ways. A month later she
approached me. “I think I may have a solution to your motivation problem.” She
told me about PRO and offered a trade. For being one of the first people to try
PRO I would get 2 sessions a week for 12 weeks in exchange blog about my
experience. Let’s do this!
A Little About Me: I played Rugby in College and football while
getting my masters. I have a stroke at the age of 25. I completed a marathon
and have done 3 physique challenges, only walking in one. For most of my life I
have been fairly active. More at some times and less at other times. I have
struggled with body issues my whole life. I am seeking peace. Not a magic
number. I will not have a six pack. I will always be a curvy girl because that
is how I am built. More than that I would not want to forgo all the little
pleasures in life to make that happen. I would be miserable with no coffee,
flour or sugar. That is not what I am seeking. I am seeking to change my mind
set. To silence my inner judge. To embrace health. To feel good.
A Little More About
My Stroke: In
2002 I had a severe stroke. In some ways it feels like just yesterday and in
other ways it feels like it was forever ago. At 25, I had graduated in May with
a Masters in Social Work. Matthew Wentworth, my boyfriend since the age of 19,
and I had wed. I was working full time in Portland, Maine counseling teenagers
at a high school for trouble adolescents. Matthew and I were working holidays
and some weekends saving to buy a home. I was also playing professional woman’s
football as a defensive end. This had become my biggest passion, a great outlet
for the many emotions I would gather within me throughout my day at work. I was
in the best of health, working out every day. Life was definitely good and
seemed to hold a kind of guarantee - a future of wonderful possibilities.
The day after
Christmas, I became ill very suddenly. My doctor assumed it was the flu. The
next day, it was obvious I was suffering from more than dehydration, and I was
taken to the emergency room. The admitting nurse decided it was most likely
drug use and would not even supply a wheelchair. My parents helped me into the
emergency room. After hours of running tests, numerous misdiagnoses, they
realized I had had a very severe stroke. Surgery would have to be performed,
and quickly. My life was, at best, questionable.
I was rushed to
Maine Medical Center to have an emergency craniotomy. I had a clot in my brain
and half my cerebellum had died. The swelling in my brain was pushing against
my skull and beginning to cause frontal lobe damage. I had an amazing surgeon
who promised my family he would do his best to save me. For a couple of weeks
my survival was unknown. I had to pass many benchmarks over the next few weeks.
I am happy to
say that I emerged triumpt.
During 3 months of inpatient rehabilitation and 7 months of outpatient
rehabilitation, I began to become the person I am today. I had to
relearn how to talk, walk, tie my shoes, write, and, finally, how to drive
again after 10 months. I was right handed and now I am left-handed.
I survived my surgery, but lost so much. I lost the
ability to walk, talk, tie my shoes, drive, I was right handed and my right
side was dramatically affected. After three month of inpatient care I began to
regain my abilities on a basic level. Persistence on my part and the part of my
therapists were vital to how far I recovered.
I slurred my words. My
word recall and internal dictionary was almost nonexistent. I was recorded
reading articles and then played them back to pick out the mistakes. Over time
my speech began to clear. I am a spokesperson for the American Heart and Stroke
Association. I would not have the voice I do today, the word retrieval, or the
ability to communicate so effectively and hopefully change people lives with my
story, without so much work.
I was given a journal to write in each day. I was
right handed and had become left handed. As you flip the pages through my
journal you can see my writing improving. Going from cat scratches to what is
now a legible handwriting. You also see less and less red marks from my
therapist correcting my journal. Slowly I began to learn from the mistakes I
had made in my writing.
At times there were three people helping me to
walk; one to swing my arms, one to move my feet, and one to make sure I was
upright and talk me through it. I went from a wheelchair, to a walker, to a
cane, to freedom. December 2005, 3 years after my stroke, I ran the Train to
End Stroke Marathon in Honolulu Hawaii. 26.2 miles of blood, sweat, and tears
that I never would have, or could have, done without training.
I have gained so much. I would NEVER be where I am
today with being in top physical shape. So many people say they can’t believe I
had a stroke so young and in such great shape. That’s not how I look at it. I
was in such great shape which is why I can’t write this today. Why I can pick
up my daughter. Why I can lift at the gym. I can do everything of every moment
in my day because I was in such great shape. They say to be healthy so that you
don’t have illness or disease strike you. I would add to that. Be healthy so
that if illness or disease strike you can FIGHT it with all you have.
(Are you still reading?! We at The Works as super excited to have Barbara chronicle her time in the Pro Fitness Program! We'll be posting every few days! Feel free to comment and let us know what other topics you'd like to hear about! :) -Millissa, Membership Department)
