TITLE/OCCUPATION: Author, award-winning radio journalist, and former TV reporter. As Special Correspondent she was part of the Peabody Award-winning team at Marketplace NPR.
INJURY/CONDITION: Necrosis of the Left Achilles Tendon.
INTERESTS/Hobbies: “I love hiking, and especially hiking to waterfalls, which I’m able to do with one achilles!
The book I’m currently writing is called Keep Hiking to Waterfalls: A Medical Mystery
A story of resilience, recovery and defying one’s prognosis.”
HISTORY:
”A freak accident—falling down stairs at home—almost destroyed my ambulatory life. My left achilles was totally ruptured, the surgery to reattach it was botched, the area got infected, the achilles died. Because of the severe necrosis that happened after the first surgery, an achilles tendon transplant was not advised. I had eight surgeries. Without an achilles my prognosis was a sedentary life.
Almost three years after the accident, as this one-achilled woman in her early 70s walks at half the speed of others, I’ve almost resigned myself that this is my new normal. The new best version of myself.”
How has C.O.R.E. changed your life?
“Working with Taylor Isaacs at C.O.R.E was pivotal in helping me defy my prognosis. Taylor pronounced me the CEO (Chief Energy Officer) of the Jo Recovery Team and added many modalities to the team, including acupuncture, podiatry, and soft tissue medical massage. I added a psychologist to ward off the depression that crept in with the loss of being able to ambulate.
I’m now resigned to being the new best version of myself, but I still have a ways to go and I’m grateful C.O.R.E will there with me every step of the way.”
Through her consistency and with the right dose of restorative exercise, Jo’s come out of the storm of the darkness from having had her Achilles’ tendon die post surgery, to emerging victorious and leaving the storm behind in her trails...
Enjoy hiking in Montana...back to the waterfalls...The process is the progress and better has no finish line!