Tracy Gale

Tracy was our first ever grant recipient back in 2010. She and her husband run a plumbing contracting business in Bryan, Texas. She had been involved in an auto accident and was paralyzed from the waist down. With your support we helped her obtain a 1996 used full size van so she could have mobility. Since that time she had another baby (who is now nine) and had three spinal surgeries. Two of the surgeries were to remove cysts from her spinal cord that were causing decreasing function in her arms and hands, and the most recent was in November 2021 to remove a growth on her brain stem which was causing severe cognitive and memory issues. About seven years ago Tracy purchased a used FES (functional electronic stimulation) bicycle to see if she could recover any feeling or functionality. She had to use the settings that were set up for the original purchaser due to the cost of updating them for her situation. She used the bike about 15 miles a day several times a week and recovered a bit of feeling and the firing of muscles in her legs. Nothing functional, but recovery, nonetheless. Over the last two years the bike has deteriorated from use and age and the cables and electrodes began to fail.

Tracy contacted us for assistance in reconditioning the bicycle and personalizing the software. New FES bikes with personalized software run north of $20,000 and that was out of the question. She just wanted to continue her rehabilitation and not lose what she had worked so hard to gain. At the point of our last communication, she was getting set up with a clinical meeting to modify the bicycle for her own personal settings. Her goal is to regain additional feeling or function, improve her aerobic functionality and lose some weight. Managing weight is an ongoing struggle for paralyzed individuals, even more so than able-bodied people. Weight gain in paralyzed individuals causes more pain and difficulties doing the activities of daily living, while increasing morbidity. When Tracy learned her application had been approved, she said, “That is so wonderful. I’m really excited to start using my bike again and I can’t wait to see what I can accomplish moving forward with it. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to find out!”