It was 5:30 a.m. and Lesley was walking around Dallas to where she was working for the next several days. Seeing a puddle, she picked up her roller bag to hop over it.

“I lifted my bag and felt something like my muscles tearing in my arm. It was painful and I couldn’t straighten it.”

At the emergency room, doctors found a broken humerus. When Lesley got back to Detroit, she saw her doctor and hoped she was on the road to recovery. Three months later, her bone was healed but she still couldn’t move her arm. Doctors sent her for an MRI, where they found her breast cancer from 12 years earlier had spread to her bones making them weak enough to break. Her doctor recommended a rod to stabilize her arm so it could move again.

“My arm was useless. I couldn’t tie my shoes, pull up my pants, carry or even lift it to put my arm in a sleeve. I hoped the surgery would help.”

After surgery, therapy was recommended. Working with DMC Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan (RIM) for many years, Lesley knew it was the right place to go.

“I did therapy twice a week at RIM’s Novi Center. My arm hadn’t moved for months, we had to retrain most of the movements. I always started with the arm bicycle and then my therapist would do massage, and we worked with bands and did lifting, pushing and pulling.”

Lesley was surprised at how quickly she regained use of her arm. About eight weeks later, she was able to lift her arm over her head and return to all activities. “My therapists knew exactly how to help me, making therapy challenging but doable and they gave me exercises to do at home which helped me recover that much faster.”