Healing My Broken Neck

it has taken me ten years to walk again . . .

Margie Willis
5 min readAug 19, 2024
My legs in the setting sun last evening . . . I worked my ass off to get these legs back!

To make a long story short, I can finally walk again, many years after 2013 reconstructive neck surgery.

On Friday, I hiked a crunchy trail with ups and downs . . . a real hike. I’ve been hiking all summer with my driver/trainer Jon, who’s been a friend and inspiration. On Friday we went to Pinnacles National Park.

It felt like my first REAL hike this summer.

I did not use a cane or stop to rest for the first mile of our hike.

As always, my legs start to cave due to nerve damage. It’s gotten much better this summer. I’ve been on an intensive program to rebuild neural connectivity in my legs with good nutrition and exercise.

So, I used a cane to hike back to the car as my legs were buckling more and more. Toward the end, almost constant caving. I’ve never pushed my legs to this point and then kept on walking anyway.

I used to stop or rest or quit for the day whenever my legs began to buckle. Friday marks the first time I’ve hiked through it. I found I could still hike despite my legs collapsing fairly often.

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