Brooke Walker is making strides. Literally.
And each small step represents the 20 months of grueling physical and
mental rehabilitation that have led to it.
"You're pretty tough," says her physical
therapist Stefanie Palma as she assists the 16-year-old on a walk around
the third floor of the NGCSU Health & Natural Sciences Building.
Considering what she has endured, Brooke would have to be pretty tough.
Because on the evening of March 4, 2006, her life drastically changed
when her friend's Jeep Cherokee collided with a Geo Tracker on a Lumpkin
County roadside.
Brooke suffered numerous injuries and severe head trauma as she was
thrown from the vehicle.
She was life-flighted to Atlanta where she
remained in critical condition for several months.
Suddenly, a life that consisted of softball, double-dates and the normal
day-to-day moments of a Lumpkin County High School freshman, came to an
abrupt halt as Brooke struggled to survive.
Her plight caused a swell of concern among many Lumpkin County residents
as they followed Brooke's progress. The slogan "Pray for Brooke Walker"
became commonplace on church marquees and shoe-polished car windows of
LCHS students.
Checking Brooke Walker's status also became a daily ritual for many as
her recovery website registered approximately 70,000 hits in the first
few months after her accident.
"Everybody has really, really been great," says her mother Tracy Yonts.
"It makes me cry when I think about it."
Now Brooke is through with hospital beds. And she's finished with
feeding tubes and life support. Her progress is no longer measured by
the amount of unassisted breaths she can take, but by the distance she
can clock on a treadmill. She's progressed from communicating through
"Yes" and "No" cards to cracking jokes with her mother. And she's
striving to completely free herself of her wheelchair. But perhaps most
impressive of all, is that Brooke Walker has now returned to Lumpkin
County High School.
In August she enrolled in Algebra class and became an active member of
the LCHS yearbook staff. She can be found making her way though the high
school halls with the assistance of a cane and her mom.She plans to take
on a full course load next semester.
But before she returned to her old stomping grounds, Brooke made sure
she laid out a series of behavioral guidelines for her mom. "She can't
dance. She can't act like an idiot. She can't sing. She can't go, 'Ooh
ooh ooh. Call on me. I know the answer'," says Brooke. So far, Brooke
says she's cooperated. "You know what I said to that?" quips Tracy.
"Bo-ring."
When Brooke's not at school she's still at work. She spends several days
a week with associate professor Stefanie Palma and the students of the
North Georgia College and State University physical therapy
department. She's engaged in regular hippo-therapy as well as aquatic
workouts.
Yet Brooke's recovery isn't confined to official therapy sessions. She
continually strives to regain control over her entire body. This can
mean anything from eye exercises to finger stretches. Brooke also
struggles with some short-term memory loss and fights headaches that can
last for days. Though some physicians said she would never remember the
events of March 4th, once-hazy memories are gradually solidifying.
"I remember looking out the window to see where we were. And the next
thing I remember, we're wrecked," said Brooke. "It's all starting to
come back slowly." Now that Brooke can express her gratitude, she says
she's touched by the outpouring of concern for her condition.
"I think it's great everybody was praying for me," she says, "I was just
thankful that the community was so concerned about me. And I'm lucky to
live in a community that cares so much about me."
This concern has produced tangible results in Brooke's recovery since
several fundraisers helped her mother and stepfather Roger Yonts acquire
the state-of-the-art equipment needed to speed her rehabilitation.
"Definitely all of the prayers and the support of this community have
actually helped Brooke to be where she is," said Tracy. "Because we've
been able to buy things and [allow] for her to have things that a lot of
people wouldn't have, that we have at home."
One such tool is the L300, a futuristic looking device that emits an
impulse in the ankle of Brooke's left leg. This advanced piece of rehab
technology, along with a recent surgery, greatly lessened Brooke's
reliance on her wheelchair. "It's truly an amazing device," says
Stefanie.
The physical therapy students of NGCSU have been key in these
fundraising efforts.Next week they will hold an additional event at
Lumpkin County High School 5:30-8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 29. The proceeds
from this fall festival will help raise the several thousand dollars
needed for a general-use L300 in the NGCSU physical therapy practice.
"There are only 75 [rehab facilities] in the U.S. that have it,"she
says. "It is unbelievable what you can do with it."
To demonstrate, Stefanie pulls out a photo of Brooke in 2006. It shows
her suspended from a rolling harness called a LiteGait as several
physical therapy students assist her on the treadmill.Brooke initially
cringes at the picture. Then, she admits that there is a certain amount
of hope to be found in it. After all, if that's where she was last year,
where will she be next year? "That's why I like it," she says. "Just to
see how far I've come."
