Tacos are the best motivation!
In 2013, a snowmobiling accident changed Mike Durgin’s life forever. Mike spent four months in a coma at a hospital in Salt Lake City and was ultimately diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. Upon waking from the coma, he was transferred first to a care facility in Thermopolis, then to Fort Washakie. Mike tried physical therapy at a local physical therapy clinic, but he wasn’t achieving the results he wanted. In 2015, Mike came to Teton Therapy and has been a valued patient ever since.
Teton Therapy has helped Mike beat the odds since his accident. Initially wheelchair-bound and with little strength – his doctors told him he would never walk again – the prognosis didn’t stop Mike. But, through years of physical therapy and hard work, Mike is now walking with a walker, can stand for long periods, and can live independently in his own apartment.
One thing that keeps Mike motivated is seeing other people working hard during their appointments at Teton Therapy’s Riverton clinic. “If I see someone with a TBI [Traumatic Brain Injury], they can find the motivation in me to work hard that day. If I can do it, so can they!” he says.
According to Teton Therapy Riverton’s Clinic Director, Physical Therapist John Reddon, “Mike works very hard and is self-motivated. If he does not feel like he is being worked hard enough, he will hold you accountable and has high standards and expectations. Working with Mike is a pleasure in that regard. He is lighthearted and easy-going but will leave every session sweating. Being held to that level requires you to think outside your comfort zone and progress as a therapist.” Adds Reddon, “I have grown as a therapist due to Mike’s expectations from me, just as he has improved from my expectations of him.”
And it’s not just Mike’s Physical Therapist who has motivated him. Teton Therapy’s Marketing Specialist Maycee Manzanares has offered a challenge to Mike: If he can complete eight laps around the Teton Therapy’s Riverton clinic’s track, she will make him tacos. Will he complete this challenge? Mike’s already accomplished so many things once thought impossible after his accident, the only question might be “hard shell or soft?”
Throughout the month of June, Teton Therapy is celebrating the amazing, inspiring, fun, and funny patients who make our clinics the incredible places they are. Watch this space for more posts about our patient’s success stories, and if you’d like to be one of these stories, schedule your free pain consultation today!
Call 307-332-2230 in Lander, 307-857-7074 in Riverton, or find us on the web at TetonTherapypc.com.
