Girl overcomes weakness causedby Cerebral Palsy – MyDaytonDailyNews

More than 200,000 cases of cerebral palsy (CP), a condition caused by brain damage before or during birth, are diagnosed each year, usually in small children. Most people with CP will eventually lose the use of their limbs and become wheelchair bound since the part of the brain that has been damaged affects movement, posture and balance.

Kelsey Applegate of Lebanon was diagnosed with CP when she was 2 years old. Since that time, Applegate has tried a variety of leg braces and even Botox treatments, none of which helped her long term.

After a physical therapist told her to get a wheelchair a few years ago, Applegate refused to give in and lose all her independence. Today, she has defied the odds and, through hard work and effort, has managed to build up strength in her legs and body.

My therapist and my doctor urged me to get a wheelchair, Applegate said. I also had braces and crutches.

Applegate and her mom did some research and felt encouraged when they learned that a personal fitness trainer might be able to help.

My mom went into Anytime Fitness to see if anyone there could help me, Applegate said. She met Drew, and I went in with her the next day.

Applegates personal trainer and Anytime Fitness District Manager Andrew Hogue began working with her in March of 2015.

When she came in, she told me her doctor suggested she invest in a wheelchair, Hogue said. She didnt want that. I knew we needed to have her focus on losing weight and improving her strength, but I had never worked with anyone with this condition so I wasnt sure where to start.

Hogue did what he does with all his clients. He had a meeting with Applegate and asked her to set goals.

Kelsey wanted to live a normal life, Hogue said. She had braces and was using hand crutches and those are hard on the posture.

Knowing Applegate needed to strengthen her muscles, Hogue set up the first few sessions and showed Applegate the areas she needed to improve.

When she started, she could barely curl her leg back, Hogue said. She could barely move it, in fact.

But after the first six months of training several times a week, Applegate improved greatly.

She blew my mind, Hogue said. She lost 50 pounds and her strength was significantly improved. She went from being a very high fall risk and dragging her toes on the floor when she walked to picking up her feet and decreasing her fall risk. Within about two months, she was able to drive a car again.

Applegate began by training three days a week with Hogue, working on balance and stretching, using bands and some of the gym equipment.

The first day I started I had to hold on to Drew to walk from one exercise machine to another, Applegate said. But soon I was walking on my own.

Hogue introduced Kelsey to the idea of participating in the Anytime Fitness sponsored Mud-Stash event, which takes place at Perfect North Slopes in Indiana twice each year. The event features a 4 mile race over obstacles and through mud pits. The first time Applegate competed in the event was in June 2016.

That year, Applegate didnt make it over all 50 obstacles, skipping some of the more challenging, such as rope ladders and muddy hills. But when she competed in the event this year on June 3, she didnt skip any obstacle or take breaks. And she finished in about 4 hours.

I had a trainer on each side to support me, Applegate said. They held me up when I needed it.

Accompanying Applegate this year were Brandon Burton and Mike Carhart, both filling in for Hogue while he was away.

I think one of the greatest lessons to be learned from this event is that no matter how hard you try and push, youll always be more successful through teamwork, Burton said. No matter what comes Kelseys way, she tackles it with great tenacity. No one is given a perfect hand of cards, but Kelsey took what she had been given and played them better than anyone.

Hogue agreed and said he has never met anyone with the strength Applegate has shown through this experience.

I never would have imagined that this 20-year-old girl would come in and give it as much effort as she did, Hogue said. I have never had a client that has been so fully engaged in the process as Kelsey is. She is sometimes in the gym up to 10 times a week. She has made more progress than I would have ever anticipated she could.

Now without a wheelchair anywhere in her near future, Applegate has done more to improve her life in the past two years of working with Hogue at the gym than she was able to do through physical therapy 18 years prior.

I am more independent now and do more on my own, Applegate said. I can drive and I feel like Im much stronger.

For more information, log on to http://www.anytimefitness.com

Continued here:
Girl overcomes weakness causedby Cerebral Palsy - MyDaytonDailyNews