Rowdy Gains: GBS

In his early 30s, Rowdy Gains, an olympic goal medalist, was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). GBS typically begins in the lower extremities and progresses towards the upper extremities. After Rowdy Gains was diagnosed, his progression from paralysis was slow, but progressive. For his occupational therapy, Rowdy went to the pool a lot to help him regain some of his function. The pool was a good place for Rowdy to do occupational therapy because he was an olympic swimmer. After a year, Rowdy progressed even further and was able to regain his function in a lot of ADLs such as brushing his teeth and tying his shoe laces. Something I thought was even more incredible was that Rowdy was able to qualify for the 1996 summer Olympics. Though he decided not to compete, he was still able to regain more function than what was originally thought.
Maggie shared with us that some people do end up dying from GBS because of respiratory issues. I believe the main reason Rowdy made such an incredible recovery is because of his prior exercise routines and his prior mindset. Swimmers typically need better respiratory abilities to begin with, therefore his lung function and respiratory strength was most likely strong before he was diagnosed, which could have been an influence to his recovery.

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