My most inspirational client ever.

I have trained 6 Olympians, including 2 Gold-medalist.  I have helped countless people of all shapes and sizes achieve extraordinary goals. 
But nothing compares to Jeremy’s story.

As I write this, I find myself on a roller coaster. One minute I have tears, and the next I have goosebumps. I end one paragraph in horror and end the next with joy. As you read about Jeremy, you will go through the same. His story will give you feelings of humility and inspiration.

Imagine waking up and going to work, just like any other day. Then, the next thing you remember is that you are in a hospital of a foreign country, missing an arm, needing a ventilator to breathe, unable to talk, unable to hear, and your entire body has been annihilated.  Jeremy experienced this life changing tragedy. The path of his life drastically changed in an instant.

Jeremy was in a horrific industrial explosion in December of 2008, while working in Brazil for a locally based company. He was working on a high-pressure industrial furnace when they believe the furnace became instantly pressurized with liquid nitrogen, causing an explosion. The explosion tore the furnace into pieces, sending the 800 pound door flying into Jeremy, smashing his arm, and leaving him pinned and covered in various other heavy debris. One person died, and Jeremy was one of two survivors. 

The explosion traumatically amputated his right arm. He also had a crushed trachea, head injuries, sternal fracture, two collapsed lungs, ruptured jugular vein, trauma to his aorta and subclavian arteries, ruptured eardrum, and damage to his spine. These were only the “big” injuries; there were many more. 

Jeremy awoke two days after the explosion but had no memory of this. He then had critical brain surgery and was put into an induced coma for ten days.  He was in a Brazilian hospital for three and a half weeks. Although they did not have the high-tech gizmos seen in American hospitals, they gave Jeremy a bath daily. They mopped his floor with fresh water in the bucket, and there was fresh air flowing through his room. Nurses sincerely cared and checked on how his then girlfriend and now wife, Amber, was doing. 

He was then transported to a Cincinnati hospital. Although we had the high-tech medical equipment, Jeremy did not get daily baths, the mop water was the same used from the previous room, there was no fresh air, and the staff was not as nice.  It was here that Jeremy got a staph infection and C. diff (a bacterial infection). He was eventually discharged from the hospital and sent to a rehab center, still unable to talk.

You would think that things couldn’t get worse, but they did.  Somewhere in this nightmare, it became apparent that Jeremy may have suffered a stroke at some point. This caused catastrophic loss of muscle control throughout his body, which disastrously included his only remaining arm. He was unable to straighten his elbow or to control his wrist and fingers. Jeremy could not perform movements such as reaching into a cupboard or grabbing a fork. The simplest of daily tasks were impossible. Without the use of muscles in his only remaining arm, Jeremy would have no independence for the rest of his life.  

To increase his functional ability, Jeremy underwent a series of surgeries to transfer muscles in his left arm. Muscles in the front of his arm were detached and reoriented to the back enabling him to straighten his elbow. Other muscles were also moved that gave him minimal control of his wrist. Still more were moved to allow him to move his fingers.  While these surgeries increased his ability to move his elbow, wrist, and fingers in some directions, it hindered his ability to move in other directions. The surgeons were robbing Peter to pay Paul. The procedures were necessary to maximize functional abilities, and from my perspective, they were incredibly successful. 

After post-operative physical and occupational therapy, Jeremy was discharged, while still being severely limited in his ability to perform many of the daily tasks that most take for granted. He remained highly dependent on others and had a greatly diminished quality of life.

This is when Jeremy’s employer, being dedicated to his recovery, brought Jeremy to Sensible Fitness. I remember his first two goals. Being able to walk through Walmart and to fasten his own seat belt. At this point in time, walking from the couch to the bathroom was a monumental task and fastening a seat belt was impossible.

Putting together a plan of attack for Jeremy’s program was not easily done. It took a number of visits to simply figure out which muscles were working and which were not.  His medical testing did not agree with the reality of what I was seeing from a functional sense. The tests would say that the muscles that move his arm are working, but they weren’t. While I will often use this information for a sense of guidance in developing a program, it was worthless. Jeremy and myself would have to figure this mess out ourselves.

While Jeremy had specific goals that he wanted to reach, I also needed to develop a comprehensive strengthening program, as he was 100% physically debilitated. His muscles were incredibly weak, his endurance was non-existent, and his balance was horrendous. But his attitude was the bomb! Jeremy gave me his “A” game from the first day.

Because of his compromised functional ability, exercises had to be uniquely designed. Although not all of his leg muscles were working properly, exercises were designed to help him walk better and to get up from the floor. His only arm was a functional disaster, but we were able to come up with exercises to mimic fastening a seat belt. With his strength and endurance improving greatly as the weeks went by, it was not long before he was able to walk through Walmart, get up from the floor independently (with weight added!), and also fasten his own seat belt.

Jeremy’s independence had increased exponentially since he started, but living 50 minutes away meant that traveling to Sensible Fitness, or even to the closest grocery store was all on Amber. Actually, most every task every day was on Amber, but transportation is what we are talking here….and Jeremy wanted to drive.

Jeremy was physically unable to turn a steering wheel to the right.  The grip strength needed to handle the wheel at different angles was also a concern. Once again, we developed functional exercises to target the necessary muscles. One exercise was to have Jeremy spin a weight plate that was racked. While we started out slowly, he eventually was spinning the 100# weight plate, seen above.

Even though he was able to spin the weight plates, the gripping muscles in his hand would not allow him to successfully turn a full circle. We realized that he would need a “suicide spinner knob”. That is when we added this knob to a 45-pound weight plate, and it is still mounted for Jeremy to use today.

Of course, Jeremy reached his goal and is driving. I cannot think of a goal established that he did not achieve. He drives 50 minutes one way to Sensible Fitness. He is religiously in here 2-3 times per week.  Even after 15 years, he is in constant pain from the trauma to his central nervous system, but he never mentions it. From day one, he has welcomed every exercise given to him, without complaint. He has every reason to give an excuse or to complain, but I have never seen it. We can all learn from his example, as few of us truly have something to really complain about.

I have been in the fitness industry for over 35 years and have never seen an individual like Jeremy. He is, hands-down, the most inspirational client I have ever worked with. The physical and psychological obstacles that he has overcome are unimaginable.  He has seen past these obstacles and triumphed with every goal that was established. That is courage. That is perseverance. That is what they make movies about. By the way, Jeremy’s goal was to walk through Walmart and he has walked 3 different 5K events (3.1 miles). He did that many years ago.  I tell you; the guy is awesome.

And behind every awesome man is an awesome woman. Jeremy met Amber in 2005, 3 years before his accident, have now been married for 8 years. They should make a movie about her too.

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