ADVENTURING RWW CLIENT HIKES ACROSS ENGLAND, THANKS TREATMENT TEAM

Imagine the excitement when the team at Northern Nevada Rehab Without Walls (RWW) received the thank-you postcard from a former client. It showed his amazing progress following serious injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, severely fractured pelvis and fractured clavicle, which were the result of a bicycling accident.

Just five months after his discharge from RWW, the postcard showed Chris Wood hiking across steep terrain in England.

“I am doing very well thanks to your kind and excellent treatment following the surgery on my pelvis 8 months ago,” Chris’ postcard to the treatment team read. “… I hiked across England last month in 6 days along Hadrian’s Wall; 90 miles from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. Not one complaint from my reconstructed pelvis!”

The team at Northern Nevada RWW knew how far Chris had come to make that hike. Following his accident, surgery and some inpatient rehabilitation, Chris had been discharged to his home in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He began treatment there with the RWW team of six individuals.

Chris’ rehab work started out at up to 19 hours a week and was decreased accordingly as he progressed. The team saw him progress from walking short distances with a platform walker and using a wheelchair outside the home, to using crutches and then a cane, and finally to being able to snowshoe at his last therapy session in November. He also worked with neuropsychology and speech therapy to return to his profession as an attorney. The hiking postcard photo showed Chris using the strategy that he was taught by his physical therapist, to use walking sticks.

“At Rehab Without Walls, we have a saying when we hear of a story such as Mr. Wood’s, that this is ‘why we do what we do,’’’ said his clinical coodrinator. “And this embodies our saying 100 percent!”