In the height of the Covid pandemic, yoga instructor and The Hot Room manager Laura Burdick, was traveling to Chicago to open a new yoga studio. She was thrilled to open a new Hot Room location and get people back into yoga studios, after months of quarantine. Laura’s journey to Chicago quickly turned her life upside down when her car was struck by a drunk driver. Laura sustained a spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury from this tragic accident.
After two months of healing in the ICU, Laura began her recovery at Shirley Ryan Ability Lab in Chicago. As in many recovery stories, Laura’s journey did not stop there. After a couple of months of recovery at Shirley Ryan, she left to continue her recovery in Omaha, Nebraska at QLI to participate in their in-patient brain injury rehabilitation program. She spent nine months at QLI before moving back to Indianapolis.
When Laura returned to Indianapolis, she was motivated and encouraged to relentlessly push to achieve new goals. She engaged in rehab at RHI briefly before transitioning to NeuroHope. At NeuroHope, Laura has been working with Neuro Exercise Specialist Steven Boswer for approximately a year and a half. She has been working with Steven on her tricep strength, core strength, mobility, and stability. Laura appreciates Steven’s creativity and commitment to helping her achieve her goals. Laura recently had a nerve transfer surgery on her left arm to gain more mobility and she is excited to begin OT with NeuroHope’s Occupational Therapy team soon!
Laura has become an important part of NeuroHope’s peer mentor team, and she offers health coaching services to the NeuroHope community! Laura’s advice to everyone is to take really good care of yourself, some challenge will always pop up in your life and you will wish you had been taking care of yourself. Take care of yourself because you deserve it!
https://www.neurohopewellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Word-Press-Client-Spotlight.jpg6021030Jacqueline Goldstein/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NeuroHope_Color.svgJacqueline Goldstein2024-01-23 13:38:192024-01-23 19:24:01Client Spotlight: Laura Burdick
We had a blast at this year’s Holiday Patient Party, organized by our Guided Exercise Intern Hadley Fisher and our First Friday team who helped coordinate cookie donations! We celebrated our amazing community and kicked off the holiday season with the best folks we know! The party was complete with an Ugly Sweater Contest, Gingerbread House Decorating, Cookie Walk, games, delicious pizza (thanks to Domino’s on Sunnyside) and a festive Hot Chocolate Bar with all the fixings! Thanks to everyone who made it a memorable night of fun!
https://www.neurohopewellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Blog-Patient-Party-2.jpg6021030Jacqueline Goldstein/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NeuroHope_Color.svgJacqueline Goldstein2023-12-04 16:47:132023-12-04 16:47:13A Night of Fun at NeuroHope’s Holiday Patient Party!
We are delighted to announce that NeuroHope has been nominated for the inaugural Neuro Rehab (NR) Times “Above and Beyond” Award.
We are honored to be nominated for this award and we congratulate the other healthcare organizations being recognized along with us.
We respect and appreciate the selfless dedication, commitment, and hard work of the individuals working in the Neuro healthcare sector who strive to deliver above and beyond care and services.
We are so grateful for our amazing NeuroHope team and their commitment to deliver above and beyond treatment to our clients every day!
https://www.neurohopewellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Copy-of-NOMINATED-FOR-Above-and-Beyond-Award-1.jpg6021030Jacqueline Goldstein/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NeuroHope_Color.svgJacqueline Goldstein2023-10-26 15:52:132023-10-26 15:52:13NeuroHope Nominated for NR Times “Above and Beyond” Award
We are thrilled to announce a two-year grant from the Indiana Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Fund that will track the health and hospital re-admittance rates of NeuroHope patients.
People living with paralysis must overcome much more than the ability to move. Pressure sores, urinary tract infections, muscle contractures, and other complications from inactivity send 30% of patients to the hospital at least once per year, and cost the healthcare system thousands of dollars every time.
On November 1, we begin work with the University of Indianapolis to monitor how often NeuroHope patients are afflicted with or hospitalized with these conditions, compared to the national average of people with neurologic injury.
Providing an atmosphere of access for the programs patients need to stay healthy remains a core principle of what we do. This grant will help tell the story of the lives we change, and will strengthen our mission to revamp the standard of care in Indiana and beyond!
https://www.neurohopewellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Copy-of-75000-2.jpg6021030Jacqueline Goldstein/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NeuroHope_Color.svgJacqueline Goldstein2023-10-26 14:39:492023-10-26 15:13:09NeuroHope Receives $75,000 State Grant
NeuroHope was proud to sponsor the 18th Annual “Unite 2 Fight Paralysis” Symposium in Minneapolis October 20th and 21st.
Each year, Unite 2 Fight Paralysis (U2FP) brings together researchers, clinicians, patients, and advocates to share developments in the search for a cure for spinal cord injury and the continual improvement of quality of life after injury.
Major topics this year included the latest progression in epidural stimulation (implanted electrodes to the spinal cord), transcutaneous electrical stimulation, and nerve regeneration strategies.
As momentum for a cure progresses, there must also be a system in place for adequate clinical delivery (access to care). NeuroHope strives to ensure that long-term care is accessible and as affordable as possible.
It’s why we’re here.
https://www.neurohopewellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Copy-of-Blog-Pic-1.png6021030Jacqueline Goldstein/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NeuroHope_Color.svgJacqueline Goldstein2023-10-23 12:34:062023-10-23 12:34:33“Unite 2 Fight Paralysis” Conference Held in Minneapolis
Client Spotlight Video! Today we’re shining the spotlight on NeuroHope client Michael “Mike” Whiteside!
In this video Mike discusses his spinal cord injury that occurred in 2021 and his road to recovery at NeuroHope. He explains how the staff at NeuroHope met him where he was at mentally and wanted to know how he was doing emotionally.
He touches on how his military background has shaped him to be a very structured person and how the NeuroHope team helped him create a structured plan of action for his paralysis recovery. Mike shares that there is hope and NeuroHope has given him confirmation that he has a future and it does not stop here. Check out Mike’s inspiring video here…
https://www.neurohopewellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Copy-of-Copy-of-IG-Video-Cover-1.jpg7201280Jacqueline Goldstein/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NeuroHope_Color.svgJacqueline Goldstein2023-10-12 15:26:362023-10-12 15:27:16Client Spotlight: Michael “Mike” Whiteside
It was an amazing 6th annual Swing “Fore” Hope presented by Valeo Financial! THANK YOU to our sell-out crowd of participants, sponsors, and volunteers that made year six a success at Ironwood Golf Club: $63,000 was raised for our programs!
THANK YOU to our event sponsors and special guests: Grand Marshal James Ahlers, Indy 500 Champ Alexander Rossi, Valeo Financial, Hensley Legal Group, Langdon Shaw Associates, Inc., Rehab Medical!
THANK YOU to our hole sponsors:Conquer Paralysis Now, Delta Faucet Company, Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine, Kona Jacks / Daddy Jacks, Bardstown Bourbon, Hanger Clinic, Prevail Prosthetics & Orthotics, Burger King of Kokomo, Muncie & Southport, VanLehman CPA & Advisory Firm, Helgeson Steel, National Seating & Mobility, Sunrise Medical, Valparaiso University, McGowan Insurance Group and Auto-Owners Insurance, BraunAbility, The George Insurance Agency, Sparenberg Farms, Compass Construction Group, Byram Healthcare, DIH, HC1, Lannie Thompson of F.C. Tucker Company, Tim and Chris Lawson, and Elliot and Dorothy Cohee.
THANK YOU to our in-kind sponsors:LuLu’s Coffee & Bakehouse, Four Day Ray Brewing, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Vanilla Bean Bakery, Sweet Things Chocolates, The English Garden Florist, Pottery by You, Back Nine Golf & Entertainment, Puccini’s Smiling Teeth Pizza & Pasta, Domestic Violence Network, Jet’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, Donatos, and Bright Ideas.
THANK YOU to our AMAZING volunteers who helped this year’s event operate smooth and efficiently!
On behalf of our entire team and Board of Directors, we are thrilled to formally announce a major partnership between NeuroHope and fellow non-profit “Conquer Paralysis Now” (CPN), that will expand our services, relocate our clinic, and re-shape the entire rehabilitative landscape in our community!
CPN is a global project of the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation, which former IndyCar driver and team owner Sam Schmidt established in 2000 after a paralyzing crash on the race track. CPN has been a leader in spinal cord injury research funding for more than a decade. In recent years the foundation shifted its primary focus to rehabilitative care by opening the adaptive fitness center “DRIVEN” in Las Vegas in 2018.
NeuroHope and CPN / DRIVEN have followed each other’s work for years. Our missions are aligned in a purpose to change the model of healthcare access for people living with neurologic conditions. Now, we are taking our programs to the next level through CPN’s purchase of the former “Five Seasons” Health Club on the Northside of Indianapolis!
Renovation of the 108,000 square foot building will begin this fall, with plans to transform the campus into a state-of-the-art neurorecovery and adaptive fitness center unlike any in the midwest. Our goal is to expand our robotics program, introduce aquatic therapy, and create a campus for adaptive sports, recreation, and wellness for the entire paralysis community.
We live in an exciting time when breakthroughs in research, technology, and innovation in neurorehabilitation happen every year, yet insurance-based access continues to diminish. Since 2015, NeuroHope has worked to create a model that makes continued care a reality.
Our success has been possible through support from organizations like the University of Indianapolis, the Indiana Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Fund, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, the OrthoIndy Foundation, and many more.
We are proud to have a new partner and an exciting path to expand and serve more people recovering from paralysis: the sole purpose of our existence.
Stay tuned! There will be more to come as we plan renovations and announce new fundraising goals to bring our dream to fruition.
https://www.neurohopewellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/CPN-NeuroHope-Grounbreaking.jpg11791572Jacqueline Goldstein/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NeuroHope_Color.svgJacqueline Goldstein2023-08-01 09:26:412023-08-11 13:42:05NeuroHope Partners with “Conquer Paralysis Now” to Relocate in 2024!
NeuroHope enjoyed the last Saturday in April at Bradford Woods in Martinsville, IN. Bradford Woods is Indiana University’s Outdoor Center that provides therapeutic activities and programs for people of all backgrounds and abilities. More than 50 participants from the NeuroHope community enjoyed a fun-filled day packed with fishing, boating, canoeing, archery, and ziplining on the beautiful 2,500-acre campus of Bradford Woods. Our day ended with April showers, but thankfully we had gorgeous weather for most of the day.
NeuroHope connected with Bradford Woods from Neurorecovery Exercise Specialist, Barry Moore. The camp is what brought him to Indianapolis as a college student years ago. After experiencing the spectacular scenery and incredible adaptive outdoor activities, we understand Barry’s love for Bradford Woods.
We were able to purchase t-shirts for this event and provide lunches to everyone, thanks to the generous support of the Sparenberg family, with Sparenberg Farms and Heidi Garner and Mack Mcclellan of HALO Branded Solutions!
By Shari Rudavsky: Indianapolis Star, December 25, 2022
The abandoned bridge over the river in southern Indiana near Edinburgh beckoned to the group of kayakers in the water below.
Chris Leeuw is the Founder and Executive Director of NeuroHope. Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar
Chris Leeuw and his friends secured their boats, scaled the structure, and poised to dive into the cool water below. Flying through the air, Leeuw did not notice the man next to him who had jumped off the bridge nanoseconds after his own feet left the ground. When Leeuw hit the water, the stranger landed atop his head, snapping his neck and instantly changing his life irrevocably. The man, whose name Leeuw does not know to this day, dragged him to shore, saving his life. But Leeuw, who never lost consciousness, could feel nothing.
“It was literally like a light switch,” he said. “I was just totally paralyzed from the neck down.”
After Leeuw was airlifted to IU Health Methodist for emergency surgery, his doctors said he’d never walk again, but he defied those predictions after spending months in a Utah specialty rehabilitation clinic. His success in Utah inspired him to open a mirror of that program here in Indianapolis, helping others with injuries similar to his own.
Unlike conventional rehab that cease when insurance payments stop, Leeuw’s NeuroHope clinic focuses on long-term recovery, stepping in to help patients who have exhausted their physical therapy allotments. To help pay for the costly service, Leeuw fundraises tirelessly to keep his self-pay fees reasonable.
NeuroHope, the rehabilitation center he opened on the northeast side, recently received a $1 million OrthoIndy Foundation grant. The money will allow the 5-year-old center expand further, serve more patients and fill a void of longterm therapy for people with spinal cord or brain injuries or who have suffered strokes.
Leeuw and his program have been on the radar of the OrthoIndy Foundation since 2016 when Leeuw approached the Foundation for assistance. “Blown away” by Leeuw’s accomplishments, the Foundation initially committed $36,000 to the program. When OrthoIndy started thinking about making another major grant along the lines of the $3 million it gave to help build the Pike Township YMCA in 2016, NeuroHope topped the list.
Indiana has no other program like NeuroHope, which is one of just 11 community fitness and wellness centers around the world that belong to the Christopher Reeve Foundation’s Neuro-Recovery Network. Many insurance programs provide physical therapy for only a set amount of time; Leeuw’s own experience as well as those of many of the NeuroHope clients attest to the value of continuing to work on recovery, his fans at OrthoIndy say.
“Chris’s program demonstrates that there are more opportunities for rehabilitation, but you have to stay at it for a long time,” said John Ryan, OrthoIndy CEO. “What it affords our doctors to do … is to offer up that there are solutions that will extend beyond what they might otherwise receive.”
Lydia Miner (right) a PTA, works with Tranicia Hankins at NeuroHope. The center offers long-term physical therapy and a fitness space for people with neurologic injuries. Hankins had a stroke six years ago and is training to walk again. Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar
Drop by NeuroHope on any weekday and you’ll see a range of activity. Some patients work one-on-one with physical or occupational therapists, honing their balance or improving their walking skills in other ways. Others work on upper- body strength, building back up muscles that have atrophied.
In one room, NeuroHope’s wellness coordinator Kendal Baker stands in the midst of a circle of men on machines, some on recumbent bikes, others on machines that work out their arms instead of their legs. The class has a spin class feel as Baker exhorts the men to move faster, raise their heart rate and watches the effect on a screen in front.
Outside the class in the main Tranicia Hankins, 41, walks a careful line under the watchful eyes of a staff member. The Noblesville resident, who had a stroke six years ago, came to NeuroHope after rehabbing elsewhere.
Since Hankins started at NeuroHope, her mother has noticed that she’s more stable when she walks and has more endurance. Now, Hankins hopes that one day she may walk without a cane. Watching Leeuw around the gym has proved an inspiration, Hankins said, “just to see him doing it every day.”
Coming back from the accident
Megan Lashley (left) a neurorecovery exercise specialist, works with a client for balance training at NeuroHope. Photo: Jenna Watson / IndyStar
But Leeuw cautions that his story of recovery is just that — his own — and that each person travels his or her own recovery path, depending on multiple factors such as the severity of their accident.
Reaching this point, however, was as long a journey for Leeuw as for his clients.
Almost instantly after his accident, which abruptly ended the kayaking excursion with friends, Leeuw knew he was paralyzed. He was airlifted to IU Health Methodist Hospital and rushed into emergency surgery.
Despite what doctors feared, about a week after his accident, Leeuw, who was in peak shape, moved a muscle in his inner thigh.
“That was a little small glimmer of hope,” he said. “But the recovery process is so long. … And the journey is a mental journey just as much as a physical one.”
At the time of the accident, Leeuw worked for ChaCha, the search enginestarted by multimillionaire Scott Jones. But recovery became a full-time job. He had to learn how to navigate his life, how to feed himself, how to bathe, how to use a power wheelchair.
Statistics suggest that those with spinal cord injuries eventually plateau in their recovery so Leeuw knew that all too soon the intensive therapy to which he had access in those early months after the accident would come to an end. After a stint at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana, Leeuw moved to a nursing home, where he continued to recover ever so slowly.
While in the nursing home, he even achieved the milestone of standing again, putting weight on his legs. Although just a few months earlier, he had thought he might never stand again, this achievement proved only small solace for him.
“It was kind of hard to celebrate some of those early wins because you still wanted more,” he said.
His former boss Jones told him about a clinic near Salt Lake City, opened by a doctor who himself had recovered from a spinal cord injury and learned to walk again. Leeuw fundraised enough to relocate to Utah with his mother.
Housed in a space far smaller than Leeuw’s own current facility, Neuroworx featured state-of-the-art equipment and operated on the philosophy that people like Leeuw need longerterm care than insurance covers to maximize recovery. For three hours a day five days a week, Leeuw said, he concentrated on regaining as many of his abilities as possible.
After about two years Leeuw could walk again and care for himself again, although his left side continues to havesome level of paralysis. The final step for him involved being able to drive on his own. After therapy each day, he and his mother would visit a student driving course near their apartment and Leeuw would take the wheel of the car, which was outfitted with a special knob.
“I would always keep trying to get my right arm strong enough to turn the wheel, and I’d fail and fail and fail,” he said. “Then when I finally was able to do that, that was time to go home.”
More of the care they need
As Leeuw drove himself back east to Indiana, he brought with him a vision: An Indianapolis clinic in Indianapolis that replicated the one in Utah.
Elliot Cohee, PT, DPT (left) is the Director of Therapy at NeuroHope and oversees clinical operations. Here he works with Brad Spencer in a gait training exercise.
From his own experience, Leeuw knew health insurance often does not cover such care. Most insurance plans only cover 22 to 28 therapy visits a year, far from sufficient for people recovering from catastrophic accidents.
At first Leeuw partnered with the University of Indianapolis, which gave him free space in a small room in Fountain Square. He opened NeuroHope in 2015 with little but a therapy mat and a dream.
Soon, however, Leeuw fundraised about $100,000 to purchase an electrical stimulation machine that improves strength and coordination by using electrical current pulses to stimulate muscle contractions. He secured additional donated equipment, such as a standing frame for those who use wheelchairs to practice standing.
Although NeuroHope had only parttime hours, patients flocked to the doors, through word of mouth. Two years ago the Indiana Spinal Cord andBrain Injury Research Fund gave the clinic a two-year grant of close to $1 million, opening the door for the clinic to expand. In 2017 NeuroHope moved to its current home adjoining the fitness center of what was then Incrediplex. The new space allowed Leeuw to realize his dream of a hybrid facility that’s part physical therapy clinic, part fitness center.
“That’s what we do that’s so unique … We see people in different, different places in their recovery,” Leeuw said. “We merge the two because we recognize these injuries take a long time to recover from.”
Brittanie Howe (right) a physical therapist, leads Olivia Garrison in a core-strengthening exercise at NeuroHope
About 30% of people with spinal cord injuries are sedentary, never leaving their wheelchairs and about 30% are hospitalized every year for issues like skin breakdown, pressure sores, or cardiovascular trouble, Leeuw said. Keeping this population healthy, then, not only improves individual health but can also saves on hospital costs.
For some, insurance covers their physical therapy; others pay out of pocket for services. To help defray costs and make it possible to offer patients in need care, Leeuw fundraises full time, which sets his facility apart from others that rely on insurers for payment.
At the time of the move, the clinic had about half a dozen employees and served about 25 people. Today the staff has nearly tripled in size for about 95 clients, Leeuw said. While most of the patients come from central Indiana, some travel from out of state. Although some may not have had exposure to some of the machines that NeuroHope offers, for most the clinic’s philosophy rather than its technology proves the draw.
“A majority of the time people have gotten the care they needed. It’s just they need more of it,” said Elliot Cohee, director of therapy. “A lot of our philosophy is just getting people out of their chair … and just trying to get them to use as much as their strength and their body that they can to help with the recovery.”
While Leeuw realizes that his own story may serve as a beacon to others that they, too, can come back from devastating injuries, he also stresses that as he see it, his success lies not in the fact he tried harder or did more therapy. Instead, he said, his injury was not as severe as those others have endured — and he did two years of intense work to relearn how to walk and use his arms.
Binh Dennis works out in a group cardio class at NeuroHope. Photo: Jenna Watson / IndyStar
Leeuw and his staff shy away from answering the question so many clients ask, When will I walk again? Each person, they know, is different; each injury poses its own challenges.
After a motorcycle accident in 2018, Binh Dennis, 52, eventually found his way to NeuroHope, looking for a place that would help him continue to regain as much of his past life as possible from his wheelchair.
Formerly a Fishers police officer, when Dennis was discharged from the hospital, he could only transfer himself from his wheelchair to a hospital bed. Now he can go from his chair to any sitting surface, shower independently, dress himself.
Three times a week, Dennis comes to NeuroHope, where he takes cardio classes, strength training classes, and works on increasing his abilities.
“I have come to accept the fact that my injury is permanent. What I look forward to is continuing maintaining my independence,” Dennis said. “The biggest thing I have gained is mental strength. Nothing is impossible.”
Contact IndyStar reporter Shari Rudavsky on email at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @srudavsky.
https://www.neurohopewellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Olivia-Indy-star_cropped.jpg7181229Chris Leeuw/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NeuroHope_Color.svgChris Leeuw2023-01-03 12:39:152023-01-03 12:49:41Indianapolis Star: The NeuroHope Story