Barbara MacDonald couldn’t control her hands and had trouble guiding a fork to her mouth because of her numb fingers.
Her body was deteriorating fast, and doctors couldn’t figure out why.
By the time MacDonald, 53, was diagnosed in 2013 with amyloidosis, a rare blood disease attacking her nervous system, she had nearly lost the ability to feed herself.
In six months, she went from walking and hiking to using a wheelchair. Unable to function without assistance, she had to leave her job as manager of the payroll department at Boyd Gaming.
Chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant in 2015 got MacDonald’s condition into remission, but she would never have been able to stand up from her wheelchair without physical therapy, she said.
MacDonald’s doctor recommended Fyzical Therapy & Balance Centers. She went to Fyzical twice a week and inched closer to standing up every session.
“There were ‘aha moments’ the whole entire time. Every day, I was able to make one more step,” she said.
She still lacks feeling in her legs, but she can get around with a walker.
“If it wasn’t for physical therapy and someone behind me going, ‘Let’s do this; try this,’ I wouldn’t be where I am today. I would probably still be sitting in a wheelchair,” she said.
There are several Fyzical locations in the Las Vegas area, with another opening in August in Henderson.
Nationwide, Fyzical, headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, has more than 400 therapy centers in 45 states.
James Mortensen, the company’s regional director in Las Vegas, said he became interested in physical therapy after his nephew was born with a syndrome that causes facial paralysis and issues with swallowing and breathing.
The infant lived just three months, but Mortensen was impressed by the therapists with whom he worked. “They seemed like people who were really genuine and truly cared about helping my nephew,” he said.
Mortensen, a Las Vegas native, eventually got his undergraduate degree in kinesiology from UNLV and a doctoral degree in physical therapy from Touro University.
After college, Mortensen in 2008 helped establish the Werner Institute of Balance and Dizziness in Las Vegas, which later merged with Fyzical Therapy & Balance Centers in 2013.
Fyzical centers help patients recovering from various injuries and diseases, but they specialize in vestibular training, a type of therapy that addresses dizziness, lightheadedness and vertigo caused by inner ear imbalances or issues with blood flow to the head.
Most patients are seniors who suffer from balance issues, and about half of patients who visit Fyzical clinics in Las Vegas receive vestibular therapy, Mortensen said.
“For the older population, if they fall down and break a bone, the recovery time could be years,” Mortensen said.
Falls are a leading cause of death in people over the age of 75, he said.
Fyzical uses a computer system to assess whether patients’ ears, joints or eyes are affecting their balance. The clinic also uses an overhead support system Mortensen compared to a rock-climbing harness to help eliminate a patient’s fear of falling while challenging their balance.
Brian Werner, national director of balance education for Fyzical, is known for bringing vestibular therapy to the Las Vegas area, Mortensen said. Werner travels to Fyzical locations across the country to educate and train physical therapists on working with patients at risk of falling.
“Treating balance and dizziness disorders is not common, and the fact that Fyzical not only does that, but they teach people in the company to do that, is unique,” Mortensen said.
MacDonald’s goal is to continue pushing her body to move so she doesn’t lose the ability to walk again.
“This is just a hurdle. Everybody’s got their hurdles. This is mine,” she said. “I feel blessed I’m still alive and still here because I could not be if things didn’t fall in place. I could still be sitting in a wheelchair, not moving.”
This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.