HEALING AFTER A TRAGEDY
Years ago, Mike was in a 56-car pile-up. He sustained back and shoulder injuries and found his way to Dr. Gruning’s Port Charlotte practice. Although he needed to have his L4 and L5 vertebrae fused, Dr. Gruning advised him against shoulder surgery. With aggressive physical therapy and other holistic treatment, his shoulder functioned perfectly and gave him no further trouble. Mike was grateful to Dr. Gruning, and never forgot how he spared him from painful surgery that would have required a much longer recovery.
Recently Mike suffered an unexpected tragedy. The horrific loss of two family members created unbearable emotional and physical pain. Although he had not dealt with any shoulder pain since it healed after the car wreck years ago, the stress took a toll. The agony was so intense that he could not even raise his arm.
Mike’s job is physically demanding, and without the use of his arm, he was unable to work. He remembered how Dr. Gruning had helped him all those years ago and was so relieved to find him running the Southwest Florida Free Pain Clinic. When he came in for his first appointment, Mike said he felt so welcome and valued.
Dr. Gruning took the time to understand what led to the excruciating pain he was suffering. Mike gratefully accepted his offer to pray with him before he began the physical exam. Mike beamed that the entire team was just phenomenal. “They have the right attitude; they do the right physical therapy, the right massage, the right acupuncture – it just works!” He also confided, “the mental part is just as important. You have to be physically, spiritually, and mentally healthy to be whole. It’s such a blessing that they actually take care of the whole person here, not just where the pain is.”
He felt fortunate that pain medication was never part of his treatment. In about four weeks, Mike was back to work, pain-free. He will continue to work through his grief, and said he is telling everyone he can about the Southwest Florida Free Pain Clinic.
In these challenging times, when people are losing jobs and benefits, fearful of COVID-19, and trying to adjust to many changes and disruptions on top of all the other life stressors, more and more people are feeling physical pain as a result. There is a growing need for holistic medical care that effectively targets the source of pain without opioids or other substances. The Southwest Florida Free Pain Clinic is the ONLY facility of this kind in the country. Our patients are dependent on the generosity of our donors because they genuinely have nowhere else to turn.
Your monthly gift of just $100 will provide comprehensive treatment with our physician, physical therapist, chiropractor, massage therapist, acupuncturist, therapy technician, and mental health counselor for a patient desperate for help.
Will you partner with us to help people like Mike? Click here to help change a life! Thank you in advance for becoming a hero to someone in our community today.