Featuring- Yvonne Bryant
Being fit and maintaining a healthy lifestyle comes with a lot of consequences and requires a lot of mental toughness that a lot of us do not have. We tend to make so many excuses about adversities and fail to realize that the body is the one thing we cannot cheat on. Yvonne Bryant has been my friend for more that 11 years and I have been blessed, moved, and motivated by her. I am honored to share her story here on FMC and I hope that her story motivates you as much as it did for me. She makes every excuse inexcusable so sit back, relax, and get ready for a story that will change the way you look at fitness and life entirely.
My name is Yvonne Bryant, I am 62 years old and I never thought my life would look anything like it does now.
I used to get at least three or four colds a year and one good case of the flu or tonsillitis. I thought that was normal. However after the age of 40, I ultimately had 13 or more surgeries in a 14 year period. My surgeries included breast cancer and damage repairs for tendinitis and carpal tunnel of my hands and wrists.
My older sister was a high fashion model and everything a girl wants to be, and I was everything she was not- including a tomboy and very active. I rode and owned horses all my life. Additionally, enjoyed gymnastics in high school, water skiing, snow skiing, and dancing for the civic ballet on point for 10 years.
Consequently I had a major foot surgery because of that as well. But interestingly, I felt terrific! I was a medical anomaly.
I was a severe scoliosis patient, meaning that I had severe spinal deformity. At one point, I was in a Milwaukee brace for two years in high school 24 hours a day. The surgeons corrected my curvature from 83° to 33°. After the age of 40, it became much more severe. I experienced a significant amount of pain and before the age of 41, I would’ve been considered the tendinitis queen.
Additionally, I used to have injections in almost every joint in my body. I could not even pick up a gallon of milk without my arms hurting because of the tendinitis, but every thing changed when I started exercising again. In addition to exercising, I started reading everything I could about exercising and health. I also worked in a hospital with doctors for many years which changed my life significantly since I was now doing things that required me to be very fit- which I wasn't very much at that time. At age 41,
I went back to the gym and started working out three times a week after work. I did weightlifting exercises and jogged religiously for 6 miles three times a week. With this regimen, I dropped three sizes in inches, but very little weight due to all the muscle mass. I also noticed that I never got sick. And since age 41, I have only been sick with a cold possibly five times.
I was amazed when I read about how a large part of our immunity system is in your muscle mass housing red blood cells. That could explain why I noticed such a dramatic difference in my health and the fact I never got sick anymore after exercising regularly. I was sold on the fact that good health and good eating is what I should’ve been even with scoliosis. Because even though I had a classic S-curve- and I appeared to have a short waist, my figure was really great for my age and condition.
Fast forward to the age of 55, I had my scoliosis surgery which lasted for two days long and 15 hours. I now have a titanium spine in addition to a number of other titanium parts in my body such as my knee joint, parts in my shoulder, and my right foot. (I had to have the scoliosis surgery because they said within 18 months I would be in a wheelchair.)
My condition become very severe and I had no discs left in my spine. Furthermore, my L1-L5 was completely fused, my T’s grafted and then everything anchored with two titanium bars leading from my neck to my hips, approximately 24 inches long and screwed into all of my vertebrae. The scoliosis surgery took place on December 10, 2011 and I was actually back in the gym exercising in a guarded fashion by March under doctor supervision and he was very pleased. I was back on my horse by June. Though I have zero flexibility in my back and hips and so many of my activities and movements have been modified significantly, I experience no pain and I feel really good!
In 2016, I was remarried and I finished my black belt in Hapkido to be home with my husband. I also quit boxing, which I really enjoyed for that reason and also because I’ve had to have a knee replacement.
Currently I am planning to have shoulder surgery because there was very little tendons left when it was repaired last time, but since I do a lot of upper body exercises, several of the muscle heads in the shoulder are strong and support my shoulder very well. The surgery I need is extremely severe requiring a Kadabra and about six months downtime. However, I currently have about 90% mobility strength and flexibility. Eventually because the shoulder is not in the socket and there is new tendon holding it, I will probably have a lot of pain. So I am planning to have surgery in about two years and I am hoping that I would be able to reduce the pain by being constant with my workouts.
For my age and all of my surgeries, I feel great in many ways. I am an avid gardener, and my husband and I have two businesses that require a lot of physical mobility. I also have a wonderful motorcycle that my husband customized for me to ride. Having a lot of titanium parts and several surgeries have not really limited me because I believe that exercise has been the key factor in my physical and emotional health.
Comments