Email from CMT Patient from June 2023
Hello Mr. O’Donnell,
It is a pleasure to be put in touch with you. I am a 39 year old man with 1A who has been working with Mike for about a year. Prior to working with him, I had a six year period of living with constant pain and discomfort after some injuries to the neck, despite trying everything and anything that conventional PT could offer. After being told by a CMT clinic on Boston that my best option was to wear AFO’s full time, I agreed and got fitted for them, only to descend even further after only 4 weeks of use. I stopped the braces and it was at that time that I came across the video series you created with Mike on the CMTA site. I watched in awe at all the non-conventional exercises, the likes of which I had never seen before nor could imagine. I emailed Mike, just hoping to find out where I could buy the bungee harness he was using in the video. To my surprise he agreed to take me on as a remote client and within just 3 months I was beginning to find my bearings again, feeling much the way I had years prior to those injuries.
I wish to give you my deepest gratitude for making those videos with him for the site. I was at near rock bottom when first viewing them, hunched forward in the braces and barely able to even breathe since my core and obliques were so weak. In one of the last videos you stood there looking at the camera and said “You can do more.” I cannot tell you just how much that spoke to and resonated with me. Those were words I needed on the road to recovery ahead and ones that have stayed with me since.
Had the videos not been there, and allowed me to also connect with Mike, I do not know what would have become of me. My 6 year old daughter also has CMT and I have made the videos mandated watching for her school PT, whom Mike is also collaborating with. Within only a few months of using Mike’s input, my daughter is now jumping and hopping side to side in a way she never had. I am certainly a believer in his methods because I and my daughter have lived their results. They also compare so favorably with everything else I have tried before.
I am left to wonder what the role is for conventional PT for people like us, as it had worked out so poorly for me and my daughter. I am not sure how many people with CMT out there are actually using Mike’s methods, and I worry that perhaps too many are going to their local PT clinics and performing conventional PT exercises from well intentioned practitioners, only to feel worse afterwards. Mike mentioned to me yesterday that you would like to bring his methods to the next level. I would be happy to assist in any way in that regard. I think his exercises should be the standard for those like us.
Looking forward to hearing from you, and thank you one again for making a set of videos and helped restore my life.
ND
CMT Patient