September 27th, 2015 at 3:28 pm I was in a very unfortunate mountain biking accident. I was riding in Copper Harbor, MI with a group of my friends. The trails on Brockway Mountain are very aggressive and many of them require an extremely high skill set. I was only on the second run of the day when my life changed forever. I was flying through a section of jumps, feeling great. I came off the top of a jump too fast and a little off center. I went over the handle bars and landed on my head. I lost complete control of my extremities and had no motor skills for about 10 minutes. All of my limbs went numb. When the feeling and motor control finally came back, I realized that if I was going to live, I would have an incredibly long road ahead of me. I ended up finding out I had fractured my C-1, C-2, C-3 vertebrae, and the back left corner of my skull. I was placed in a halo brace for 3 weeks and then had a cervical fusion surgery. I am now fused from my skull down to my C-4 vertebrae. I lost around 25 pounds and was extremely bored laying around for all of the fall. I was overwhelmed thinking about all of the mountain biking, motocross, hunting, lifting, and snowboarding I was missing out on. Recovery consumed my every thought and I continued to tell myself I would be better than I was before, I just had no knowledge on how to get where I wanted and needed to be, both physically and mentally.
That was when I met Mary.
Prior to meeting Mary I did not have any knowledge on the benefits and importance of a healthy diet. I was always into working out but never really knew what I should be eating to maximize my strength, physique and results. My doctors really didn’t give me any direction on which vitamins I should be taking and what nutrients I needed to get my neck to the best condition possible. I was also extremely stiff and in a lot of upper body pain from the deterioration of my neck muscles. A friend of mine was working with Mary and was seeing ridiculously impressive results. He got me a voucher for a massage and nutritional coaching session with Mary. I had the massage right away and it made a world of difference. I still to this day continue going to her and my neck feels as good as new when she is finished. Then my nutrition coaching began. I slowly worked my way into the diet plan she made me and was feeling better and better each day. I was finally starting to gain a little bit of muscle back and more self-confidence. When I returned to school in early January, I made it my priority to eat only what she told me to and to work as hard as possible at physical therapy to get back into shape and regain the use of my neck. When I finally got the green light on being allowed to weight lift, I got right back into my regime. Only this time, I had the proper fuel for my body to grow and prosper. I would talk to Mary about every week or so and she would tweak my diet to continue seeing results. In just 3 short months I had gotten back up to my weight prior to my accident and was more vascular and cut than ever before. Also, the use of my neck increased faster than doctors ever believed it would. And the craziest thing is that I have no pain in my neck what so ever. I was astonished with the results and can only imagine how I will look in 6 more months with Mary’s guidance.
Mary is an amazing woman with unbelievable knowledge and motivation. She absolutely thrives in her field and I recommend her to everyone I know and love. She is so dedicated to her clients because she honestly cares about their health, progress, outcome, and wellbeing. Her drive is what makes her the best at what she does. Mary will not settle for mediocrity and will persevere until she knows everything there is to learn about the human body. I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am today, both physically and mentally, without this amazing woman coming into my life.
Freddie Aiken