A Tribute to A Dear Friend
About 2 weeks ago, the Tundra Family lost someone special to us. A long time patient, turned dear friend, Jerry Newman. I will deeply miss my time with Jerry. One of the few people I could put country music on in the clinic that instead of ridiculing my selection, would reminisce about dancing to certain songs back in the day. Favorite movie was Urban Cowboy. Fluent in what his partner would call his Oklahoma Bullshit. And was one of the kindest individuals I’ve ever known. Not only was Jerry an amazing person, but his physical therapy story is an important one that I believe deserves a platform.
For those of you who didn’t know Jerry, he incurred a spinal cord injury early in his days that eventually progressed to a point that he did require a wheelchair and assistance at home. Prior to working with me, he was a patient of the VA and had been attending visits there for some time. Eventually the situation there changed for him, when his physical therapist told him, “there’s nothing more we can do for you.”
Can you imagine what that felt like? Jerry was someone proactively looking for help. Someone looking to optimize his position in life. Who’s goals were to stay as strong as he could in order to be independent in as many aspects in his life. Most importantly provide as much physical assistance for his helpers in the tasks that he required help in.
Through the avenue of his partner, he was able to get in touch with me and my first words to him were, “There’s lots we can do.” When we first started working together, he could only stand roughly 15 sec supported. This goal for him was the most important. It represented his capacity to take stress off his caregivers. To be able to transfer independently in and out of the chair, assist with showers, and dressing.
The beauty of strength training is we’re never too old to get stronger. For Jerry and I, we started with multiple repetitions of just standing 15 sec. The following weeks, it was 30 sec, then a min, and eventually we built our way where he was standing for 10 min all together. Not only that, we dove into his other exercises to strengthen his arms and trunk. We had the opportunity to go to the pool and reassess his aquatics routine and inject some new blood into pool exercises.
While Jerry may have had a different set of circumstances than a few of our other traditional patients, Jerry was our people. Someone who had specific goals to work towards and driven to make it happen. Someone who “there’s nothing more we can do for you” doesn’t work for. You’re never too old to get stronger or create an outcome that you want. Never settle for less.
To my friend, Jerry.
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