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Over the last six months, Methodist Rehabilitation Center (MRC) has grown exponentially, intentionally, and strategically. With the opening of their Gluckstadt outpatient therapy clinic and their ninth orthotics and prosthetics clinic in Tupelo, and with the Clinton outpatient therapy clinic well underway in the construction process, MRC is working hard to bring the highest caliber of patient care to the areas where it is most needed.

No offense, but I don’t want to be here,” says stroke patient Darryl Blakely of Raymond.

He’s in the middle of a strenuous workout session, so Methodist Outpatient Therapy physical therapist Molli Sorrels could take the comment as a complaint.

But she understands the deeper meaning and says: “I don’t want you to be here, either.”

HERE is the middle ground between fighting for your life and reclaiming your lifestyle.

As a graduate of LSVT BIG & LOUD therapy for Parkinson’s disease, Mark Heusel of Madison knows he’s supposed to continue the program’s intensive exercises at home.

“But it’s hard to stay motivated to do it on my own,” confesses the retired mechanical engineer.

That’s why he’s delighted to have discovered BIG & LOUD for Life: A Parkinson’s Disease Wellness Program. Free classes are now available at Methodist Outpatient Therapy clinics in Ridgeland and Flowood.

Before she knew she had multiple sclerosis, Eva Jackson hid her shaky limbs for fear it would compromise her career.

Now, she boldly embraces all things MS, even bedazzling her first cane.

“I am in such a better place, and now I want to help others,” said the National MS Society peer support leader in central Mississippi.

As a Black woman who struggled seven long years before being properly diagnosed, she’s determined to counter the dangerous delusion that Black people don’t get MS.

Jeff Merchant of Terry had been hunting some 47 years.

So on Nov. 4, he felt confident as he climbed to put new straps on a lock-on tree stand.

It was the proverbial pride before a fall.

“The top of the stand broke and pulled my feet off the section I was standing on,” he said. “I fell 19 feet.”

He landed standing up, dislocating both ankles and crushing his heels. Then he fell backwards atop his bow.

Fourteen years ago, Amanda Dove Wells watched her father-in-law fight back from a near fatal helicopter crash.

Larry Wells broke 12 ribs, his right femur, his sternum, pelvis, tailbone, wrists and upper arms, vertebra in his back and right shoulder blade. “He was never supposed to walk again,” Amanda said.

Yet by the time he finished therapy at Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson, he could even climb stairs. “We were talking about putting a ramp on the house, and the need went away,” said his wife, Donna.