Erica D.

My names Erica D, I’m 22 and I’m from Ontario, Canada. When I was 16, I was involved in a car accident that left me as a quadraplegic. I spent 2 months at Sunnybrook Hospital and 5 months at Lyndhurst Rehab Center in Toronto. When I was discharged, I had regained just enough strength to push myself in a manual chair. However, I still needed someone to push me anytime I wanted to go outside.

Since returning home in March 2005, I have received physical therapy twice per week, working mainly on upper body strength and keeping my body limber. Like a lot of physical therapists, mine were never interested in getting my core or my legs working again. For six and a half years I watched my body slowly deteriorate and lose more and more muscle. My legs had become toothpicks.

In the later part of 2010, I started traveling back and forth to Florida for some school options and possible future internships. While I was in Florida, I started searching for a facility where I could go a couple times a week to be stretched, I came across CNR.

After only a month and a half of going to CNR, my calves and thighs had each grown an entire cuff size, which is about an inch around. My legs finally fit properly and looked good in jeans again!!! (which means a lot to a 22 year old woman)Not only that, but for the first time in 6 and a half years, I controlled movement of my legs. It’s still very minimal, but to me it’s a milestone.

The people at CNR are extraordinary and their attitudes keep you motivated and make you want to work harder. They know that your ultimate goal is to walk again, and it’s so refreshing to finally have people around you that truly want to make it happen just as much as you do.