I had been seeing an MRT (Muscle Release Technique) therapist named Parker Whittaker at Whittaker Therapy in Plymouth, Michigan every Monday for a little over two years when he began telling me about Mike Barwis and the work he does. It was about six months after that, (in the winter) that Parker told me that I was going to see Mike in the summer (I am a teacher and summer is my “down-time”).
I began watching Mike’s TED talk. I must have watched it at least 30 times and cried each and every time! Part of me did not believe that he could help me. I felt that I was too far gone to help. I had been in a chair for 8 years! It was too late. I was beyond hope. I thought it was dangerous to hope for life outside this chair. In retrospect, I see it differently but back then I was afraid to think of life taller than 4’1. (My wheelchair tech, Ty, measured me and that is how tall I am sitting down). Parker told me that he “didn’t think I was meant to live life in [my] chair but I wasn’t meant to forget it.”
Parker ALWAYS said the MOST profound things to me!!!