Washington woman exercises her way out of a wheelchair
Wendy Wolfe, 45, of Washington, has the track all to herself at the Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center in South Strabane Township.
Wendy Wolfe talks with floor attendant Joni Russell as she works out on the Arc Trainer at the Wellness Center.
Wolfe walks the track at the Wellness Center.
Wendy Wolfe loves being a mom, and when it comes to teaching her two sons lessons in life, there is no better role model.
For six years, Wendy viewed the world from a wheelchair, with doctors giving the Washington woman little hope of ever walking again. As one neurologist pointed out, her spine is “literally turning itself into a corkscrew.”
But Wendy, now 45, kept thinking of her sons, Christopher, now 20, and Brandon, 16, and the emotional pain she felt whenever the boys were pushing her wheelchair. More importantly, she didn’t want her boys to think it was OK to quit.
“They’ve never, never given up on me. So I asked myself, ‘What do I want to show them?'” said Wendy as she choked back the tears.
In May 2011, Wendy used her wheelchair for the last time, completing a journey that started ever so slowly, one careful step at a time.
She’s been an inspiration not only to her family, but also the staff and members at Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center, said Debbie Roytas, executive director of the center, where Wendy works through the agonizing back pain to complete a daily two-hour exercise regimen that involves the pool, floor machines and walking track.
“You have to find the strength within yourself,” Wendy said. “It’s so easy to think it’s too cold, or I don’t feel well, and stay home. Those are the days I really push myself.”
Wendy’s health began to decline 10 years ago when she was working as a registered nurse at a dialysis center in the South Hills and started to experience excruciating back pain. She figured it was sciatica. She began physical therapy and what turned into an extensive battery of tests, including a procedure in which dye was injected into seven discs, exacerbating the pain at each level.
She was diagnosed with severe degenerative disc disease.
“I had no stamina, and my leg would drag,” Wendy said. “Every test led to another problem. Everything went downhill, and I rapidly declined.”
She has since been diagnosed with arthritis, spinal stenosis, scoliosis and retrolisthesis, which are unstable vertebrae that have a tendency to slide against one another.
She’s had a bilateral rhizotomy, a neurological procedure that destroys problematic nerve roots in the spinal cord, and later received a spinal cord stimulator and medical pump implant.
“It eases the pain; it doesn’t get rid of it,” Wendy said.
But Wendy’s dedication has been the best medicine.
In February 2004, she joined the Wellness Center. Back then, she went on a limited basis, and only to use the warm therapy pool.
“It made me feel human again,” said Wendy, who was relying on her mother, Sue Wilson of Washington, for transportation and to push her wheelchair when she ran errands or visited doctors while her husband, Keith, was at work.
As her number of steps increased in the pool, so did her confidence, prompting Wendy to ask herself, “If I can walk in the water, why not on the ground?”
One day while shopping, she asked her mother to step aside. Using the handles of her wheelchair for support, Wendy walked behind it, gingerly moving each leg.
“I was wiped out after a few steps,” Wendy said. “I took baby steps until I was able to push the wheelchair a little farther.”
Later, she got a scooter, which she would ride to Trinity West so she could be a homeroom mom for her boys, and on Christmas Day 2010, Wendy received what she called “the greatest gift in the world:” a walker from her husband.
“I had my freedom, whether it was just to go to the grocery store or the mall. From that point on, I started walking,” said Wendy, who did not trust herself to drive after she was diagnosed.
Every step, it turned out, was a small victory for Wendy, and on New Year’s Eve 2011, she made a resolution to go full speed ahead.
“Nothing was going to stop me,” she said. “Every day I used the walker on the track at the Wellness Center. I could only do a lap at a time, but no matter what, I did a lap. I tried to go farther every day. It got to the point where I was walking well with the walker.”
Then she graduated to walking a lap at a time with a cane, plus a couple laps with the walker. Last January, she was shown how to use the elliptical machine. She started out one or two minutes at a time and has worked her way up to 30 minutes to an hour. She also does 20-minute intervals on a stationary bike.
“I like thinking outside the box,” she said. “What works for one person might not work for anybody else.”
Three years ago, she also went on the South Beach Diet, desperate to shed the weight she had gained while she was using her wheelchair. The diet combined with her workouts have resulted in a 120-pound-plus weight loss.
Her next goal is to participate in a 5K walk/run this summer with her husband and sons. She realizes she won’t be able to walk the entire course without leaning on her cane or walker for support, but she intends to complete it.
“I don’t like anybody to feel sorry for me,” Wendy said. “I’m not an invalid. I’m a strong-willed person. If you tell me I can’t do something, I will prove you wrong.”