Jessie Walked 500 Feet Today

This blog post was provided in person today by Jessie, who was born with a physical disability in her legs.  She has no femurs, and uses a wheelchair for mobility.  Until about a month ago, Jessie had not walked in six years.

Today I reached one of my goals for walking. I was at the physical therapy room at Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center and I walked four laps with my walker. It is 125 feet per lap, so I walked a total of 500 feet. That achieved one of my goals, to walk 500 feet with a walker.

My next goal is to walk 500 feet without a walker. That won't be so easy.  I currently don’t have the core strength to stand on my own, so I’m lacking the stability and balance to stand. That will hopefully come in time and with a lot of work.

I have a few busy days coming up, including some fun activities I'll be doing with Out & About. Tonight I will go to Giddy Up, (NOTE:  Giddy Up is an equine-assisted therapy program designed in collaboration between Out & About and Medicine Horse Program in which participants learn skills such as horse grooming, natural horsemanship, riding, and horse leading while focusing on relationships with the horses and each other), tomorrow I will go to Friday Night Out where we’ll have pizza and go bowling; and Saturday we’ll go to the Louisville Rec Center for Fitness and Fun where I’ll get some exercise.

I’ll keep you updated with my progress.