Diagnosis: SCI
Level of Injury: C3 incomplete
ASIA: C
Cause: Hit head on jet ski
Age at Onset: 57
For many people, the RT300 cycle has reversed atrophy and improved circulation. For Mike Mahany, it’s
helping rebuild his life.
On Labor Day in 2006, Mike was
taking advantage of the sunny holiday to jet ski near his Savannah home. While
lifting a ski onto his dock with a wench, the line snapped. The jet ski fell
into the water and Mike fell in on top of it.
That seemingly innocuous instant
shattered his life.
“I was in the water and I couldn’t move any part of my body.
It was surreal. I thought I was dying. My eyes were open underwater but I
couldn’t tell if I was looking up or down. I was trying to hold my breath as
long as I could. I was about to give up when I was pulled out through the marsh
and onto my lawn,” Mike remembers.
Then, two things happened that began to reverse Mike’s
fortune. First, the area’s best surgeon happened to be at the hospital despite
the holiday. He whisked Mike into the operating room with a swiftness that may
have prevented further damage. Second, Mike met Cyndi Simmons.
Cyndi, a Physical Therapist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute
in Baltimore, introduced Mike to the RT300 leg and arm FES cycle. A year and half
ago, Mike couldn’t move. Today? “I started walking!” Although he needs help—for
now—Mike says he’s “making progress every day, and in the last months things
have been phenomenal. We started training last February. By June, I walked 22
feet with the help of others. Now I’m up to 200 feet. Yesterday I stood up and
was standing for almost two minutes on my own. I even did knee bends!”
Mike attributes his success to the FES cycle, which he uses
2–3 times a week. He even brags about his new physique: “I have muscles! I have
bulges in my biceps!” He also believes the bike helps with his range of motion,
controlling spasms, and decreasing muscle pain.
But the technology helps Mike improve more than his physical
condition. “If I’m having a bad day, I get on that machine and ride for an hour
and I feel better. I’m able to accomplish something. I know I can push myself
and I can take a bad day and turn it around. I like that after every session my
performance is downloaded so my doctors can track my performance. It gives me
more goals and makes me work harder.”
Mike applies this same determination to his future. “I’m a
management consultant, which used to take me traveling all over the world.
Right now, I can’t get on an airplane—not YET anyway! I’ll get back to it, but
my focus at the moment is taking care of myself. I believe now that I’m gonna
get enough functionality to become independent and take control of my life. I
want to get up and walk on my own by Christmas.”
And knowing Mike, Christmas will come early this year.
