John Morrison always led an active and exciting life. During different parts of his life, he was a police officer, a paramedic fireman, and an Army Reservist. There wasn’t much that could slow him down.

Until one day, in 2010, John lost his leg in a motorcycle accident. After the crash, he was determined to move on with his life as much as he could. And he did. However, seven years later he was struck with a medical condition that caused him to lose his other leg.

Faced with an outlook that seemed bleak, John had just about given up hope of having a healthy, active life where he could walk again. His biggest fear was being confined to a wheelchair. Not ready to give up, he admitted himself into Sprenger Health Care Rose Lane to start therapy and gain a new perspective on his life.

He didn’t know it, but at that moment his journey to one day walk again was closer than he could imagine. He would soon be fitted with prosthetic legs. With a determined therapy team and support staff at Sprenger Health Care Rose Lane, John underwent extensive therapy and rehabilitation, which included a myriad of exercising such as core work, strength training, and stretching.

Shawn Beltz, director of rehabilitation at Sprenger Health Care Rose Lane, commented, “John’s therapy team, which included myself, Tyler Sponaugle, physical therapist, and John Price, physical therapist assistant, helped him practice standing and walking when John had just one prosthetic. These exercises would help to improve his upper body strength and help him to learn a walking pattern again.

Once he received both prosthetics,” Beltz continued, “we could practice on the parallel bars with weight shifting – learning how to transfer his weight back and forth. We then progressed him to using a walker, giving him the tips to assure his walking pattern was normalized. Eventually, we were able to get him to use just a cane.”

While the therapy and rehab started to help him physically, John also attended Sprenger Health Care Rose Lane’s amputee support group so he could begin to heal emotionally as well. John said, “The whole experience has been eye-opening. The staff at Rose Lane refused to give up on me.”

John continues to improve every day and is happy with the direction he is headed at this point in his life. He looks forward to the day when he can be more independent. For now, however, he is not going to let anything slow him down.

Sprenger Healthcare offers a wide variety of services including therapy, independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing, and hospice care. No matter what your situation, we are here to support you at every step of your journey. If you would like to schedule a personal tour at one of our communities, please call us at 800-772-1116 or visit www.sprengerhealthcare.com to explore all we offer.