Author: Jen Rios

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!!!

My first Chiropractor/Naturopathic doctor, Dr. Tent at Diverse Health Services in Northville, referred me to Parker Whittaker an MRT (Muscle Release Technique) therapist to help with the spasticity in my legs.   He gave me his card and I called. I spoke with a very nice woman named Lori who I would later find out was his wife.  I was a bit nervous when I got to his office.  My Mom came with me (she always comes with me when I see a new doctor for moral support).

His office was warm and smelled clean.  It felt homey.  It would feel like home to me for the next 3 and a half years.  When we got into his room, Norah Jones was playing on his iPod dock and I commented that I liked the song.  Parker and I had great conversations while I was getting worked on.  I told him that I’ve never liked Mondays but now that I no longer see him, I miss the Mondays I spent with him, getting worked on and having great convo.

I remember when he worked on my forearms.  This was the moment when I really believed that this was the place I needed to be.  My forearms were hurting me like knives were being run up and down them whenever I moved them. This situation was especially terrible for me because I use my hands so much!  I was still driving with my feet then but I used my hands and forearms with every turn of my wheels, with every “step I took” if you will.  I remember driving to work crying and driving with the edge of my palms on the wheel because it hurt so much!

My Mom wheeled me into his room and I held up my forearms up to him and asked “Et tu Brute?!” with tears in my eyes. I am a literary person.  I taught English for 5 years before getting my Master’s degree in education with a Reading Specialist endorsement.  That reference seemed so fitting to me.  Just as Julius Caesar discovers that his friend Brutus has also betrayed him after he has been mortally stabbed; I too was experiencing insult added to injury with having trouble using my hands after the use of my legs had been taken away from me.  It was EXTREME insult added to injury!

It hurt. Both physically and metaphorically.  Parker knew immediately why my forearms were hurting me so much and what to do.  He began working on me and that was the last day my forearms have hurt like that.  That was about 2 years ago now. I take to heart everything that Parker says to me.  If he says I need to see Mike; I will.  He knew that as a teacher and single mother that I do not have an infinite supply of money so he released me.  I think of him often and miss him, his convo, and his family terribly.