“All I could think about was, is my leg gone? Will I walk again?” – Shalone 

Three days into a new job, Shalone had a life-changing accident. Still in training, Shalone was on the manufacturing plant floor when a Hi-Lo truck ran into him in a restricted area.

“It happened so fast, I tried to get out of the way. When I looked down, I saw my bone sticking out of my skin, snapped in half. All I could think about was, is my leg gone? Will I walk again?”

At a nearby hospital, doctors told Shalone they were likely going to have to amputate but during surgery, they were able to save his foot. Shalone woke up to a fixator on his foot and pins in his toes. Over the next several months, he had multiple surgeries including skin grafting, wound cleaning, further stabilization and the fusing of his foot. When Shalone was referred to DMC Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan (RIM), he was in a wheelchair.

“I went to RIM three times a week. At first, it was all about upper body strength and learning to transfer from my wheelchair to a bed. Once I got my cast off, we worked on walking again.”

Shalone says it was baby steps. His toes are a problem since they have pins in them and function differently than before, so he’s had to learn a new way of walking. Shalone’s therapy also included strengthening and balance exercises and he particularly liked pool therapy.

After two years of physical therapy, he’s gone from a wheelchair to knee scooter, walker to a quad cane and hopes to use a regular cane soon. “My therapists definitely know what they’re doing. They’re patient but push me and with them, I’ve really come a long way.”