Need inspiration to take action or work harder on your personal wellness goals?
Lets “talk” a little to Mark Stiles, of Newton, and hear his personal wellness story. Stiles had complications from a “simple” spinal surgery in August 2012, which led to a five-month hospital stay (August 2012 through February 2013).
He had to re-learn how to walk, starting in a wheelchair and then moving to a platform walker (this has extra support for your upper body), gradually progressing to a standard wheeled walker, a four wheeled walker and then a cane. He is now (2016) walking with no assistive devices. His catalyst for his motivation to continuously improve was a desire to recover and be an active dad for his two young daughters.
Stiles has been constantly setting goals for himself since his injury, working to increase his strength and dexterity to be able to be more independent and better able to care for his daughters and to return to work full-time. In addition, Stiles set an over-and-above 2014 goal for himself to complete a 5K distance race, which he did at the YMCA Turkey Trot. He was supported by many other 5K competitors that day as well as his family and friends and YMCA staff.
He has had setbacks (as all of us do on our road to better wellness). His setbacks have included daily nerve pain, muscle soreness, occasional falls, muscle cramping and fatigue. Despite these things, he has kept going and kept looking forward to just being back to “normal” again. He is regularly spotted at the YMCA exercising to further increase his strength and endurance and he is always quick to give a smile and a supportive word to others in the midst of his own workout.
Stiles is a positive influence on anyone who spends time with him. Mark has also worked on nutrition goals and has lost more than 100 pounds since his surgery in 2012. He tries to eat in moderation, using portion control and is still trying to reduce his sugar and snack intake. His support system that has helped him work towards wellness in his life has been his wife Jody, his physical therapists at Skiff Medical Center and the supportive staff at the Newton YMCA.
A piece of advice Stiles has learned he thinks would benefit others working towards wellness is to try and make progress and improvements every single day.
Thank you to Stiles for sharing his story with the Newton Wellness Coalition. Hopefully it has inspired any of you reading to get going on your own wellness goals. Keep making those improvements every single day and those single days will add up to lots of amazing progress.