Part 3: Brian Roche: Road to Recovery
"It might not have been much and the steps were certainly ugly, but they were my victory."
ALBANY, Ga. – After a month of nerve pain and physical therapy, I had finally taken a major stride forward…
I had achieved a major victory in being able to stand up, and my ambitions didn’t stop there, as I was still confident I would walk out of the Shepherd Center.
” …I knew that this was the start of a long road, that was going to have a happy ending,” said Marci and Rob Roche, Brian’s parents.
After nearly two months in Shepherd’s Inpatient Therapy, I had finally been moved to their Outpatient Day Program…
It’s there that I would meet one of my new therapists, Atom Young…
Someone who consistently stressed just how sparse the care for those with spinal cord injuries is as he was working with me.
“A lot of times people transition from an inpatient setting, where they have a lot of assistance with a lot of medical staff that is no longer an option once they transfer to our program. And, our goal is to try and prepare patients and family members for when they get home that they’re confident and comfortable with their daily routine…” said Atom Young, Occupational Therapist, Shepherd Center.
As the weeks continued on, progress was certainly being made…
From standing up in a harness…
To ditching the harness, and starting to take some major steps forward.
It might not have been much and the steps were certainly ugly, but they were my victory.
“It was exciting to see how much you had progressed, but I don’t think we realized how much further you still had to go. It was so exciting to see you walk that short distance with the walker. And, you even tried doing steps, which was amazing. But, like I said, we didn’t really realize how much further you had, but this was just a tiny little step in the right direction,” said Marci Roche, Brian’s mother.
“We were excited when you walked for the first time in your life like every proud parent would be. I think we were a thousand times more happy and excited the second time you learned how to walk…” said Rob Roche, Brian’s father.
However, I wouldn’t be done with Shepherd throughout the next year. As my family and I would continue to drive down the east coast back to Atlanta for a program Shepherd called, “Beyond Therapy.”
“It’s an athletic model, like I said before, it’s something more intense than traditional therapy. That isn’t covered by insurance, so we’re able to cover the goals that the client wants to work on…I always mention to everybody how well you did. When you first got here, it was a struggle for you to adapt to our program, but you did, and you did great. You progressed fabulously… said Becky Washburn, Wellness Manager, Shepherd Center.
“Initially when you first started, you endurance was very low, and you had pain. And, having to deal with a lot of things as you continued to recover. So, it was more like, okay, how can we help you get through each session with some of the goal we wanted to achieve, it might not be everything we want to achieve but it was some incremental progress. And as your pain reduced and you got more function back and you were able to do more and more, we were able to push you harder, and you were able to push you harder…” said Kati Vines, Physical Therapist, Shepherd Center.
And, sure enough, every time that I left Shepherd Center, I had made major progress…
“Every time we made that trip back to shepherd from new jersey, they would always talk about how far you advanced…” said Marci and Rob Roche, Brian’s parents.
Until on that third time I left late one April morning, in stunned silence…
I had finally accomplished what I thought I would do six months earlier and walked out…
But, the recovery effort was certainly far from over…
As we continue to talk about recovery from a spinal cord injury, you can watch all parts of the story in full on our website, CBS44tv.com.
And, don’t forget to catch part four tomorrow, only on CBS 44 News.
Brian Roche reporting.
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