Herb Segars Photography Blog

In a previous blog, I talked about my son, Tom, and his recovery from a traumatic brain injury. One of the tough things about recovery is the loss of things that Tom loved to do. The great thing is that he is finding new things to do. One of those things has been driving a horse and buggy at the Congress Hill Farm with an incredible group, Special Strides Therapeutic Riding Center. You can read about the horse and buggy riding in my blog here.

The great people at Special Strides have added another dimension to Tom’s favorite things. They have started him into horseback riding. Now Tom has never been horseback riding and he had never driven a horse and buggy before going to Special Strides.

Tom’s session of horse and buggy riding or horseback riding starts the same way with Tom grooming his horse. When he rides the horse and buggy, his horse is Gypsy and when horseback riding, he rides Magic.

I couldn’t go for his first horseback riding experience but I made it to the second. The first thing that impressed me was how great all the people from Special Strides where with Tom. They really care and they interact with him and he loves every second of it. Initially, Tom can’t take the reins and just take Magic wherever he wants. The specialists at Special Strides have to make sure that Tom can maintain his balance on the horse and that he is comfortable. His team included three people: Mary who led Magic on their journey, Melissa Jarzynski, MSPT, a member of the hippotherapy staff, who walked along on one side of Tom and Paula O’Neill of the Therapeutic Riding Team who walked along on the other side. They helped Tom find his balance in the saddle.

Paula, Melissa and Mary chatted away with Tom as they took him along a path into the woods and back again and onto the mile long track at Congress Hill Farm where the thoroughbreds exercise.

I guess that I should back up a little. After Tom grooms Magic, who is a  breeding stock paint horse, the team takes him to a small ramp so that it can be easier for him to mount the horse. Tom had no trouble getting aboard Magic and the group was soon on their way. Veronica, Francesca (a volunteer at Special Strides) and my wife Veronica and I followed along. Tom was enjoying every minute of the experience.

Before we knew it, the ride was over and Tom was back at the stable. I especially liked watching him dismount. He did not use the elevated platform. He swung his leg over Magic and slid off the saddle onto the ground. Paula and Melissa both said that they had seen an improvement in Tom in just one week. Veronica and I were happy about the news as was Tom’s lovely wife, Lynda.

So, Tom’s Wild Ride continues. It has been a long, hard four years but Tom has found the strength to continue to improve. Lynda, Veronica and I will not give up on our quest to bring Tom back to us completely. We will do whatever it takes to see him whole again.

With the help of some great friends and great people, we have gotten Tom into a hyperbaric oxygen treatment program. We have read about people with traumatic brain injury having success with these types of treatments. The tough part is finding someone who will pay for these treatments. I am sure that you are wondering why hyperbaric oxygen? A neurologist at the hospital where Tom is getting the treatment explained it well to us today. As we walk this earth, we breathe 32% oxygen. When a person goes into a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, they are breathing 100% oxygen with 1.25 to 1.75 atmospheres of pressure on their body. A University of Pennsylvania (Penn) study found that “a typical course of oxygen treatments increases by eight-fold the number of stem cells circulating in a person’s body.” These stem cells find their way to injured parts of the body and help repair those areas. As little as five years ago, the belief was that injured parts of the brain could not heal. That is not the belief today. Here is another quote from the Penn study: “Stem cells exist in the bone marrow of human beings and animals and are capable of changing their nature to become part of many different organs and tissues. In response to injury, these cells move from the bone marrow to the injured sites, where they differentiate into cells that assist in the healing process. The movement, or mobilization, of stem cells can be triggered by a variety of stimuli – including pharmaceutical agents and hyperbaric oxygen treatments. Where as drugs are associated with a host of side effects, hyperbaric oxygen treatments carry a significantly lower risk of such effects.”

Will hyperbaric oxygen help Tom? We hope and pray that it does. I will keep you updated on his progress.

If you want to see more photos of Tom grooming and horseback riding, visit my Photo Gallery and click on Physically Challenged and Special Strides Therapeutic Riding Center or just click here.