SPOTLIGHT VICTORY WALK INC. Agency improves skills of spinal-cord impaired
-from Springdale Morning News (10/31/2010)

SPRINGDALE: For those with spinalcord injuries, progress isnt measured in steps, but in independence.

A January 2007 work injury left Greg Lemke a quadriplegic. Lemke has worked hard in the years since, and while he hasnt yet achieved his goal of walking again, he is able to drive a car.

Its an enormous accomplishment, one that has lessened his reliance on others.

He is getting stronger, and learning to be more independent, and that comes through the strengthening of his body, says Gregs mother, Lynda Lemke. Were very proud of the progress he has made. …[Now] Mom and Dad dont have to take him every place.

That sort of victory is made possible at Victory Walk Inc. (1200 N. 40th St.), a spinal-cord injury therapy center. The Lemke family opened the facility in April 2009,when it had only oneclient.

Today it has 10 clients, who come from as far away as Jonesboro.

Were very proud of that number, says Lynda, who is Victory Walks president. (Her husband, Al, is on its board.) Once they come here, they normally come back, because from the very beginning, theyfeel something different in their bodies. They feel like there is hope.

After Gregs injury, he spent 16 days in a Temple, Texas, hospital, followed by four months at a rehabilitation facility in Craig, Colo. He returned to Northwest Arkansas in May 2007, and beganlooking for ways to regain control of his body.

Greg received stem-cell implants during a 2008 trip to China, and saw immediate results, improving his strength and mobility. Later that year, he spent two weeks in Texas with Pressing On, anorganization that Victory Walk is modeled after.

Lynda Lemke calls it an intensive, activity-based exercise program.

We are very adamant about the fact that there is recovery, she says. Whether its a big toe or walking, anything is a recovery.

Victory Walk doesnt have a physical therapist on staff. Instead it employs a trainer, Greg Alderson.

Alderson was sent to Californias famed Project Walk, where he learned the Dardzinski Method. Employed at Victory Walk, the method is a five-phase recovery plan that teaches the brain and musclesto function together again.

Those who come to Victory Walk are given an evaluation, where a customized therapy plan is formed. Then the hard work begins.

Greg, a computer operator in Lincoln, is at the center three times a week, for three hours a session. The center has several different machines that help strengthen bodies.

When you become a spinal-cord injury person, there is not anything you cannot do; you learn to do it in a different way, Lemke says. We dont baby them. Theyre here for one reason, and thats towork hard.

A nonprofit organization, Victory Walk charges $50 an hour, although Lemke says it costs $68 an hour per client to keep the center open. Insurance doesnt cover therapieslike those performed at thecenter, so it relies heavily on grants and donations; it also had a successful golf tournament earlier this year.

The Lemkes have worked to make the center accessible for families as well. Lynda is always there to talk with family members and caregivers, and often has simply picked up the phone and checked tosee how they were coping.

We want to be here for support, for the families, as well as the person whos here for therapy, Lynda says. By knowing that we are moms and dads of [children with] spinal-cord injuries, they feelcomfortable [to talk]. It takes a lot of patience, a lot of understanding on both sides, and you have to rely on God. You dont get through this yourself. For more information about Victory Walk Inc.,call (479) 365-2000 or visit victorywalkinc.com