{"id":46462,"date":"2017-09-21T04:53:13","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T08:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utnews.utoledo.edu\/?p=46462"},"modified":"2020-10-21T14:42:04","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T18:42:04","slug":"utmc-helps-bmx-racer-beat-paralysis-to-get-back-on-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/09_21_2017\/utmc-helps-bmx-racer-beat-paralysis-to-get-back-on-track","title":{"rendered":"UTMC helps BMX racer beat paralysis to get back on track"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sixteen-year-old Dakota Gillett was an avid BMX bicycle racer with the dream of going pro. <\/p>\n

\u201cBMX was my passion. It was just my thing,\u201d Gillett said. \u201cI\u2019d just focus on that and do my school \u2014 and that\u2019s all I did.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dakota Gillett, who was diagnosed with lifetime paralysis after a bike accident last year, was pedaling again recently on Health Science Campus.<\/p><\/div>On July 3, 2016, while on vacation in Tucson, Ariz., he entered a BMX contest that would forever change his life. When attempting a jump over a barrel, Gillett fell and broke his C3 and C4 vertebrae, which resulted in him being paralyzed from the chest down. <\/p>\n

His mom, Heidi, was home in Montpelier, Ohio, when her son was injured. After arriving at the hospital in Arizona, she was not prepared for what she saw. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was Dakota, with tubes everywhere. He had a ventilator in. He had tubes coming out of his neck, he had two central lines put in,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was just sitting there. He just looked so miserable and so sad. I\u2019ve never seen him like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Eman Jarouche, physical therapist at UTMC\u2019s Outpatient Therapy Services, worked with Dakota Gillett.<\/p><\/div>After undergoing surgeries and beginning rehabilitation, Gillett was transferred to the Rehabilitation Hospital of Northwest Ohio on the UT Health Science Campus to be closer to home. He then progressed to outpatient care at UT Medical Center. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe started off here in our facility in a wheelchair,\u201d said Eman Jarouche, physical therapist at UTMC\u2019s Outpatient Therapy Services. \u201cHe had mentioned that he was able to stand a couple of times and try to take a step, but that was all he was able to do when he started here.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the next nine months, Gillett and his mom traveled more than an hour from their home to UTMC at least twice each week for physical therapy and occupational therapy services. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gillett and Jarouche<\/p><\/div>\u201cOnce he came here, they instantly put him on a harness, and they put him on a treadmill and got him walking,\u201d Gillett\u2019s mom said.<\/p>\n

In spite of a diagnosis of lifetime paralysis with little chance of walking, Gillett was determined to get back on his bike by the first anniversary of his accident. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs my body got stronger, we started talking about getting back on my bike,\u201d he said. \u201cI went out and bought a helmet and bought a strap for my left leg and said, \u2018OK, now it\u2019s time to focus.\u2019 They put the belt on and were like, \u2018OK, you\u2019re on your own,\u2019 and I look back and I\u2019m on my own! This was unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis biggest goal was getting back on the bike by the one-year mark, and now he\u2019s riding with the wind in his hair!\u201d Jarouche said.<\/p>\n

Gillett\u2019s mom credits Jarouche and the rest of her son\u2019s therapy team at UTMC for pushing him while giving him the quality care he needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like these guys actually cared and made sure that that person could get to where they needed to get,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen Dakota would get his goals, they would be doing dances with him. I\u2019m just so happy with this place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy experience at UT is possibly the best experience that I\u2019ve ever had in my whole life because they never give up and they always push you to your limits,\u201d Gillett said.<\/p>\n

To watch Gillett\u2019s story, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a bike accident, Dakota Gillett was diagnosed with lifetime paralysis. But the teen was determined to ride again. With care from UT Medical Center, he is pedaling around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":831,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,63],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46462"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/831"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46462"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47718,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46462\/revisions\/47718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}