Christy Gardner

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Christy Gardner is a retired army veteran who was injured overseas in 2006 after recovering from a brain injury. She is now the co captain of the US Women's Para Ice Hockey team. Thanks for coming in today.

Christy Gardner:

You're very welcome.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And also thanks to Moxie, who is your companion dog who is taking a little nap in the corner now, right?

Christy Gardner:

Patiently waiting.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Patiently waiting. Yeah, she was the star of the show a few minutes ago. Everybody here in the office was pretty excited to see her.

Christy Gardner:

Yeah, they were joking about getting an office dog. So I might have to bring a puppy next time.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, you may have to. Do you find that that's often the case that you know that she shows up on the scene and everybody she's

Christy Gardner:

very hit or miss. A lot of people love dogs and gravitate right to her. And you know I went to visit my sister at college when she was a freshman and the football players are the first floor in the dorm and you had to walk through their wing and you get like this 300 pound linebacker that comes out and they're like oh my God, a puppy. And I'm like oh my God. Like you think these big macho guys but they still Everybody loves dogs.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Do you ever encounter Situations where people are a little concerned or.

Christy Gardner:

I wouldn't say concerned. Maybe some fearful, especially with the larger refugee population. Unfortunately, a lot of them, the only dogs they've been exposed to were dirty or vicious, whether it's guard dogs at refugee camps or just stray dogs and stuff like that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's interesting. I wasn't expecting that answer. I was thinking about just like small children who are concerned about big dogs. But that makes a lot of sense that people who have had negative experiences would be really kind of a little shy.

Christy Gardner:

Yeah, that's usually more the reaction we get, especially because I live in Lewiston. Some of the folks have been really good at adapting, but some of them, you can't blame them for being afraid.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Now you're doing something very interesting with ice hockey. Is this something that you had. Have played all your life?

Christy Gardner:

Absolutely not. I've been an athlete all my life and I always wanted to play hockey, but when I was growing up, like middle school age and stuff, my parents were really worried that I'd get hurt playing hockey. So we kind of figure I'm already beyond that point, so I might as well now.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I guess talk to me about that. You've had this. You were injured in 2006. That really shifted your life dramatically.

Christy Gardner:

Yeah, I was injured in the summer of 06 overseas. And when I met with the poly trauma team at the hospital, basically they said that there were so many things I would never do again. They labeled me 100% disabled and severely handicapped. And from then on, it was a battle for a number of years. I spent three years in physical therapy, three and a half years in speech therapy. I still talk with a lisp and stutter sometimes, but it's not bad as long as I'm not tired. Finding word choice and things like that is occasionally a struggle. Obviously my balance is a struggle now because I'm a bilateral amputee

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

and I was reading about you, and from what I'm understanding, it's not entirely clear what happened that caused this injury.

Christy Gardner:

We know what happened, but it's not something I can openly talk about.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Oh, okay. Okay.

Christy Gardner:

It was overseas on a peacekeeping mission.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So how. How did that. How did that impact you? To go to be in the middle of something that you were voluntarily there for and then wake up and be. Have your life completely changed?

Christy Gardner:

We sign up the military. The army right now is a volunteer force. So we all sort of know what we're getting into and what the risks are. But for the most part, you expect it not to happen to you. You know, that it's a, it's a slim chance that your life's gonna be catastrophically changed. Unfortunately, that slim chance was mine. So I don't think anybody else on our trip got particularly injured. I know a couple guys got like a broken wrist or concussion here and there, but, you know, obviously I think I was the most significantly injured on that adventure.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So how do you feel the services are for people who have had this type of traumatic injury? I mean, as a doctor, I've worked with people who are part of the VA system and I believe that that has really dramatically improved over the years. But I'm wondering from your perspective, as somebody who really heavily used these services for a number of years, how do you feel?

Christy Gardner:

I still encourage people to join. One of my friends is almost done with her AIT right now in the army and she's going to be stationed with an airborne division in Alaska that might deploy soon. And like I said, we know the risks, we know what we're getting into, but it's an amazing way of life. The camaraderie and brotherhood in the service is unreal. And then even after that, getting hurt. The support among other veterans is amazing. The support among a lot of our programs is fantastic. I mean, you'll get again, hit or miss. You might have an amazing. My primary care doc is amazing. Every time I'm like, hey Doc, I probably broke this, you know, hey doc, what about this? He's like, alright, what else can we nip in the butt while you're here? That's nagging or whatever before it comes nagging. But then of course you get other people. It's like a battle to get an appointment and services are delayed or you've got to fight for what equipment you need. So it's very. It depends a lot on the people who are there who are passionate about their job. And I think you find that almost anywhere in life.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And how about, I guess, the need for better services for people who have lost limbs? I mean, that's such a dramatic change.

Christy Gardner:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How are we doing with that?

Christy Gardner:

We're doing okay. I think that it's harder in Maine because we have such an older population or an older veteran population. There are very few veterans my age group at the va, there are very few females my age group at the VA or females in general. So going up to physical therapy, coming off bilateral leg amputations, they basically had me walk back and forth for 20 minutes with a theraband around my ankles and said, okay, you're good. And I was like, you're kidding, right? I come all the way here for this. I'm an athlete. I was in the army, and I met the male PT standards because I never wanted anybody to look at me and say, you're only here because you're a girl, or whatever. I always wanted to be the best I could. So to come home and be injured. I still want to push those limits, you know, at least it doesn't hurt now when I stub my toe. Why can't I jump around more?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Why did you decide to join the military in the first place? And why be a military police officer?

Christy Gardner:

I don't know. I guess I've always just been driven. I like to be outdoors and active, and I really don't sit still well at all. So an office job is not for me. But my grandfather and my uncles were in the Marines. I have a couple cousins that joined the Navy about the same time I joined the army. So it's kind of a family thing. A lot of us have served. It just seemed like a great career option to me. I mean, they do take good care of us, including apparel. You know, you get issued what you're gonna wear, you get issued a place to live, you get issued everything you need. So there's not really a whole lot to worry about other than to do your job.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And what was it about being in the military police that appealed to you?

Christy Gardner:

Just that outdoor active thing. The other offers they gave me were like nurse or admin or, you know, reception type jobs. And it's just sitting still like that is just not for me. So I figured at least being a military police is similar to being regular police. You're foot patrolling, you're checking buildings, clearing houses, responding to calls. So it's a much more active job.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It also seems like it would require some certain amount of bravery. I mean, not only did you volunteer to show up for the military, but you also went into a particularly dangerous part of the military.

Christy Gardner:

Yeah, I'd say so. I mean, we never get calls to come to parties, that's for sure. So it's more like if. If someone's in crisis, somebody's life depends on you or a whole group of people's lives. You know, if we're. We're manning a security checkpoint, it's for a reason, to make sure that all of our people that come through stay safe. And I wanted to be able to help ensure that. I never wanted to have to worry for people. I wanted them to be able to do their job safely while I had

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

their back how have your. How have your parents responded to this change in your life? I'm just thinking about my. I have brothers and sisters who have all been in the military, and we had at one time three or four serving in the Middle East. And when they all came back, my mother breathed a huge sigh of relief. And if that had been different, I know that that would have really impacted her significantly.

Christy Gardner:

Yeah, I do believe it was harder on my parents than it was on me. I know that my dad cried about it when I lost my legs, and that really, really bothered him. I actually lost two fingers early in my career, and that was a bigger deal to my mom. You know, losing my pinky was a really big deal to her, she said, because her baby wasn't whole anymore. You know, as a parent, you want to be there to protect your child. And she couldn't. So it really, really bothered her a lot. I think now that I'm as active as I am, it doesn't bother her nearly as much. They had the opportunity, my mom and some family, to come out and watch me run last summer, so I was able to sprint and set a couple records that way and just to excel athletically now. And so for them, it's been good to see me thrive again.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, tell me about that. As somebody who has always been an athlete, how did you need to shift your mindset in order to continue to be an athlete?

Christy Gardner:

It was really hard at first. The first few years after I met with the doctors, they had gone through a three page list of stuff they said I'd never do again. You know, ride a bike, live alone, bathe alone. I wasn't allowed to swim because if I had a seizure, I'd drown and that kind of stuff. So I was really limited and I kind of believed the doctors that those were my limitations and that was going to be my life now. And then this other veteran kept bugging me at the hospital. It's an older gentleman with a service dog. And we kind of met because of the dogs. And he kept saying, come to this thing with me, come to this thing with me. And it was all these sports events. And I was like, they just told me I'd never do any of that again. I don't want to come watch somebody else do it. And finally I said, you know, like, if I come with you, will you shut up and stop bothering me? Of course he said yes. So I went. And it turned out it was all these disabled veterans that were water skiing and kayaking and being active outdoors again. And that was A major turning point for me. From then on, it was kind of like, well, let's, you know, we broke that limit. Let's challenge the rest of them and see where I end up. So basically, I've broken every barrier they set for me at the hospital. I'll never wiggle my toes, but it's not really a big deal.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What was the first thing that you embarked upon? Was it the running? Was it the. What was the first athletic endeavor?

Christy Gardner:

Water skiing. So I'm not supposed to be in the water or be active, and why not be active on the water? So, yeah, I got up, they had a boom off the side of the boat, and they had me hold on to that, and right off the first try, up we went.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Did you water ski before?

Christy Gardner:

No, never.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you went from doing something that you had never done before to. To taking on this new activity with a body that you had shifted in your life. That must have felt kind of weird.

Christy Gardner:

Yeah, it was pretty crazy. I mean, especially because the doctors and everyone had said, you'll never do this, you'll never do that. You'll never do this. And then right away, it was like, bam, success on the first try. So it really kind of set the tone from there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So why do you think that you. And I don't know that you can even know this, but why do you think that you got this list in the first place? Where did this come from? Is this their experience based on other veterans who have gone through similar circumstances?

Christy Gardner:

I'm not sure if it's based on what they've seen in the results of others or if it's based on their own assumptions, because I've met so many people since then that said doctors told them they'd never do this, that, or the other thing as well, and here they are doing it. I think it's a big problem in our medical community that they assume that because it won't be done exactly the same way, that you can't do it. I took a kid out and got him on the ice the other day. He had bone cancer in his leg, and they told him he'll never play hockey again. Granted, we put him in a sled, but sled hockey is still hockey. It's full contact, and it's a heck of a lot of fun. So why did you have to dash a kid's dreams? I wish people would think of that more when they talk to others.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, as you're talking about it, I'm thinking about a story that I wrote about Maine Adaptive and Maine Adaptive not only gets people of all ages and all abilities up on skis, but they are having. They're out biking, they're out paddling, and they really are the full gamut of activities.

Christy Gardner:

And I applied to mane adaptive and you need the doctor's note. And the doctor said, no, it's too dangerous. Because at the time, I had done limb salvage and I didn't have full sensation in my feet. And he's like, well, what if your feet get cold? What about this? What about that? I'm like, they do this stuff all the time. They probably know how to handle it, but everyone is so afraid of it that they don't want to push the limit and see what's possible. I worked. I don't know if you've heard of vast. It's a veterans adaptive sports and training at Pineland and New Gloucester. It's an awesome program. It's outdoors as usual. Cross country skiing, snowshoeing, biathlon. They do, like, cycling programs and stuff like that. And I helped them with a biathlon camp. We brought wounded warriors up from Walter Reed. And there was a gentleman in a sit ski, a younger guy, and he was going really fast, and they're like, dude, you slow down, you might crash. Or you might crash. Not you're gonna. You might. And he's like, are you kidding? I've been blown up twice. I don't care if I fall over in the snow. You know, it wasn't from a sit ski. You're literally like 12 to 18 inches off the floor for cross country. And everyone was so worried that he was gonna fall. And he's like, are you really kidding me right now? Like, if you've seen what I've been through, this is so minor. And I wish more people would take that perspective.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So why are we. So why. Why is our approach so delicate?

Christy Gardner:

I have no idea. I think everyone's afraid of stepping on anybody's toes. Or if you said, yes, go do this thing, and then I got hurt, and then you'd feel either guilty or liable. Everyone's afraid of getting sued, stuff like that, so. So they tell you, don't do it just to avoid the risk.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What would you have liked to have heard?

Christy Gardner:

Oh, God. Anything about adaptive sports. I didn't even know they existed. And they basically just told my, my life is over. I'll never be active again. To an active person, that baffles me. Like, how do people. I don't know. I just don't know. I worked as. I interned as a rec therapist at the VA Because I went back on my GI Bill and got certified for adaptive sports. And I was working at the hospital and I had my credentials on once when I went to an appointment and the practitioner said, oh, you work here now? What do you do? And I said, oh, I'm working in rec therapy. And they go, what's that? Like, my God, you're the people that are supposed to refer people to us. So I don't even think that it's that we need more support or we need more programs, we need more awareness. Because now that I've gotten into the field, I found out there's literally hundreds of adaptive sports out there for all ability levels, whether it's cognitive, physical, anything. There's so much out there to offer people that the world just doesn't know about.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

But it seems strange to me that we don't have a greater awareness about this because the Paralympics occur right after the Olympics. So you have something that is international that's going on. Where. Where would these people all come from? I guess, if there wasn't already something set in place?

Christy Gardner:

Yeah. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of funding, and a lot of the adaptive sports are run by nonprofits, so there's not a whole lot of marketing. There's not a ton of money for marketing. It's, do we get another athlete involved or do we get an ad campaign? So a lot of times it goes prioritized for the people.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So if we were able to maybe shift some of the funding away from things that were keeping people in the mindset that their lives were over and towards the things that would put them in a mindset that said, your life's gonna be different, but there's some hope here.

Christy Gardner:

Yeah. The kid that I was working with, his doctor told him, you'll never be normal again. Like, seriously, he has an implant in his leg, in his femur, but he can walk, he can ride a bike. I don't understand why they had to tell him that. You know, tell them your life's going to be different. Tell them your life's going to be challenging. Don't tell them it's over.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It is a delicate balance. Because I was just thinking about a conversation I had with a woman who works in hospice, and she said that on the flip side, patients who have been told by their doctors that there's hope that they could live anywhere for up to five years, and they find themselves in hospice, they get angry about that piece of. So, you know, it's. It's a funny line to have to walk you know, you want to give hope, but you don't want to give too much hope. Yeah, it seems really like, situationally dependent and almost an art to that sort of conversation.

Christy Gardner:

I would imagine the doctors really have to kind of feel out the person or get to know the person and what drives them. Everyone said that my rehab was so successful because I'm so stubborn. So pretty much when you tell me, no, you're not going to do that, I'm going to be like, watch me. And you know, so well, you're.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And also the fact that you are an athlete. So maybe not every person that comes in is going to want to participate in adaptive sports. But for those who do, then that's going to really change the way you talk.

Christy Gardner:

Well, and the other thing is that through rec therapy, it's not necessarily just adaptive sports. The rec therapy department at the VA has cooking, arts and crafts, a wood shop. Like, there's so much to do, there's to stay busy. And they consider it therapeutic activities because you keep your mind engaged, keep your body engaged. Maybe if you had a stroke and you have an arm deficiency, you can start working on some of those motor skills in the shop programs like that. So it's really all encompassing in adapting life.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, I think that's. That is important because, I mean, having been to physical therapy, if I was given something to do that seemed like it had a point to it, then probably it would mean more to me.

Christy Gardner:

Exactly. We could meet the same therapeutic goals through certain sports activities as you could through sitting in the therapy room doing little baby exercises that you know you're not going to do at home. They always give those home activities, and I have yet to meet a person that actually does them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tell me about your experience with service dogs. Moxie is still hanging out over here with Spencer, our audio producer. She looks pretty mellow. I'm wondering what kind of an impact she had on your life.

Christy Gardner:

She's been absolutely amazing for me. I love that she's gotta be touching him right now. She put her paw out on his foot just to hold on. She's been very motivating as well. So on the days when you're supposed to get out and active and do those therapy things and you really don't feel like it, she'll kind of give me that push, like, all right, let's go. She's taken her ball and, like, held it against my leg, like, get up. Come play with me. Or get her walk. She'll bounce back and forth and want her walk for the day. So that gets my walk and my step count up. She's been a battle buddy everywhere I go, whether it's through the PTSD or just knowing you have a friend with you, it's a pretty big deal to have someone that can do that. And then for my seizures and epilepsy, she's able to alert before I have one. So before I got her, I actually had a seizure and faceplanted into a coffee table and rearranged my face pretty good and had to have surgery. So to have her and to have that comfort, to know that nothing bad's gonna happen to me because she's looking out for me, she's a pretty awesome battle buddy.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How did you first learn about the availability of service dogs like Moxie?

Christy Gardner:

When I was on active duty, still at the hospital rehabbing, they suggested that a service dog would be beneficial to me. And so we started looking into it and applied to a few agencies, but they typically have about a two year wait. Mostly because that's how long it takes to train a dog.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You also, when I saw you in the airport a few months ago, and you and I didn't meet, but I met Louie, the dog that was with you at the time. You also are involved with training dogs yourself now?

Christy Gardner:

Yep. I've seen how beneficial she's been for me and how the service dogs that my friends have have been hugely beneficial to them. And so I know what the power of a dog can do for that, for your life or for the lives of others. And I work for a Labrador breeder and I help with selection, so I get to choose which litters and which puppies from those litters have the best aptitude to become a working dog and then work with local agencies or even national now to get dogs into schools, proper training to become service or therapy dogs for different organizations.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And what types of things do you look for as far as aptitude is concerned?

Christy Gardner:

A lot of times it's basic temperament tests. Holding them up and holding them in different positions to see if they're comfortable with you or obedient. You want the one that has a little bit of curiosity and energy, but you don't want like the super headstrong one in the group. And you obviously don't want the most timid one. And then we've had a few bloodlines that have multiple dogs that are already certified, so we tend to lean toward that line, knowing that the genetics are very good.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tell me about the US Women's para Ice hockey team.

Christy Gardner:

Para ice hockey is the new name for sled hockey, it is a Paralympic sport. Although the women's side is not yet participating in the Games, the men are over there right now getting ready. So hopefully they bring home another golden in a week or two. But for the women, we're headed over to the Czech Republic in May for worlds. We are the defending world champion, so hopefully we can take that back again, beat Canada. But para ice hockey is basically seated full checking ice hockey. Even the women's side is full checking. So you get two short little sticks with spikes on the back end that you push like ski poles, and then you flip down and puck handle with the other end where there's a blade on it. We skate with two hockey skate blades basically bolted underneath our butts, and you balance on that, and that's how you get around.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How much time did it take to learn how to do that type of hockey?

Christy Gardner:

Oh, I was probably awful my entire first year. I actually learned about the sport at a VA winter sports clinic. The rec therapists in the area host a big event every year in New Hampshire for skiing and snowboarding. And then every evening after we're done skiing, they introduced new sports. So they did wheelchair basketball, we learned to kayak in the hotel pool. And the one night was sled hockey. So I tried it out and I was on the ice for like 20 minutes, and I was terrible, but it was fun. And the fact that it was high speed and full contact was really appealing to me for, like, that competitive, aggressive, aggressive nature. And so the group that ran the event loaned me equipment for about six months, and I went down to a USA Hockey jamboree, they call it that they do in Philly every June, and it's basically like a giant camp for the whole nation. Anybody that's interested in sled hockey can come to this week long camp. And I went and I gave it a shot. And the women's national team coaches happened to have been there, so I got invited onto the team from there, and the rest is history.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How long have you been doing this now?

Christy Gardner:

This is, I think, my sixth year.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you said you were terrible the first year. How long did it take before you actually felt like you had some proficiency

Christy Gardner:

till about this year? No, I've usually been just a wing on the team. And I work hard, I skate hard, I skate fast, but I never had really skill with the puck. And then I started a team up here called the New England warriors, and it's a sled hockey team for disabled veterans. We actually just won our league last weekend in New Hampshire. So that was a blast. But working with the guys and having to be a role model for them has helped my puck handling skills because I spend most of the game chasing the puck and feeding passes to them and then going and getting it back and trying again and things like that. So it's really helped my confidence with the puck as far as passing and shooting and things like that. So that's helped me on the national team quite a bit.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Last year, I went to the Pond Hockey tournament up in Central Maine and we wrote a story about it for the magazines. And it really struck me how much camaraderie there was in that sport. And these were men and women that went all the way up to the older ages. I'm not even sure how old the oldest was, but definitely over 50. And there was such a care for one another and such a love of the sport. Is this the same type of thing that you're experiencing now with the hockey that you do?

Christy Gardner:

I think with our hockey, there's that same camaraderie. Like the military, it's another team, and the mission depends on each person and each person giving their full effort. So it's very similar to that, that camaraderie and brotherhood. With the women's national team. We're basically family. The girls call each other and treat each other as sisters, which is awesome. I always had brothers growing up, so now I have a whole team of sisters, which is great. We do have occasional girl drama, but really not bad typical stuff like that. But we have so much fun together and we work together despite our disabilities to make everything happen. We went to an escape room two weeks ago when we were in Denver, and they're like, oh, yeah, the rooms are accessible. It's on the third floor of the building. So we had people got carried up the stairs, you know, up three flights of stairs, and we were there to do it as a team. You know, we got everybody.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's such an interesting thing that here you are, you're a high level athlete and at the same time, you have to be aware of accessibility.

Christy Gardner:

Yeah, well, accessibility and health, even. So for us, you take a normal athlete and I think we're still working with our coach. She's amazing. She knows hockey. She's very passionate about all of us and taking care of all of us. But each player has a different disability. So some of us are amputees and some are not, but all from different causes. And then some of the girls are paraplegic and some are not. There's different conditions that affect how we play. And it took her a really long time to understand that even with mine, like I need my medication at a structured time. So if all of a sudden we have a 10pm practice, I'm probably not going to be too with it by the end of practice. But she understands that I need, I need that structure, I need that medication. It's not something you consider with able bodied athletes. With them it's hydrate, eat, sleep, that's it, train. With all of us, it's different. Bowel routines, amputee care, wheelchair care. Some of the girls that are paraplegics don't have any butt muscles. So what they sit on is very careful. You have to be careful the way you move people. You can't jar anything on someone that's already damaged. So we all control the way we move on the ice, but off the ice, there's so many different variables that we have to be careful of.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, that. I mean, I hadn't really thought about a lot of the things that you just said and to have these kind of constantly moving pieces. But you also are traveling all over the place. This doesn't keep you just hanging out in your hometown. This, that you've been all over the

Christy Gardner:

country and we've been everywhere. I'm short eight states still in the US but in the last couple of months we were In New Hampshire, St. Louis, Denver, Colorado Springs, Florida. I'm trying to think where else. I'm just everywhere. Vermont, Massachusetts, of course, New England. And then at the end of next month we're headed to Chicago and then Philly and then on Austria and then we're going over the Czech Republic for worlds.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So how, when you, when things are not accessible, when you're in a place that doesn't have an elevator, how do you kind of try to communicate those needs?

Christy Gardner:

We're all pretty good at going with the flow. It's funny because you'll get new people on the team that haven't traveled much and they're used to the ADA and where are the curb cuts and where are the ramps and where's the elevator? And the rest of us have traveled around the world so much that we're like, the ADA is the Americans with Disabilities Act. It's only in America, once you get out of the country, everything changes. And so we're all just used to going with the flow. Whether it's access, problems with the dogs, access problems with wheelchairs. It's amazing how many places we go that have stairs and you'll see everybody like crawling up and throwing each other's wheelchairs up the stairs, and we make it happen. The girls are really good at adapting.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So as we're talking, I'm thinking about younger people who are either born with different abilities or have cancer and they need to have an amputation. And I'm thinking about how inspiring it would be to meet somebody who has been dealing with this and working through these issues.

Christy Gardner:

Yeah, we love meeting with folks on our team weekends. Whenever there's anybody in the community, they get invited out, and they're welcome to come meet the team and stuff like that, because it is true. We meet so many people whose parents, like the doctors, aren't sure how hard to push the kids. And I've met kids that have so much more potential than they're currently functioning at because everyone's too afraid to push or, you know, not to say helicopter parents, but I'm sure you've heard the term. And it's amazing how many kids could be much more independent if the parents just pushed him a little bit. You know, some of the girls or most of the girls on the team have really been pushed their whole lives, and that's why they've been able to achieve an elite level, push you out of your comfort zone.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So if you had any advice for parents of children who are trying to figure out how to negotiate the world,

Christy Gardner:

just to try to not be so afraid of everything, you know, give it a shot. You haven't really got that much to lose at that point. You've already become damaged, you know, like me trying hockey. My parents thought I'd get hurt. I can't do it. It's dangerous. So, you know, I did a tough mudder this fall, and someone asked me, how many bones are in your skeleton? And I was like, I don't know, 206, 208, something like that. They're like, no, how many are in yours? And I was like, wow, I never even considered that. Turns out I only have 150 of them left. But, you know, you've. You've come to a point where challenging what you have left is better off or would leave you better off than being too afraid to risk it. So I wish that more people would just try a little harder in life in general. I think everyone, disabled or not, can apply that to their lives just to push themselves a little bit more, see what they're capable of.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I've been speaking with Christy Gardner, who is a retired army veteran who was injured overseas in 2006 after recovering from a brain injury. She is now the co Captain of the U.S. women's Para Ice Hockey Team and she's here with her service dog, Moxie. I appreciate all the work that you're doing and it's really an inspiring thing that you've come here to talk about today. So thank you.

Christy Gardner:

You're very welcome. Try to be stubborn. It's worked out in my favor.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Dr. Zach Mazzone do created Dayspring Integrative Wellness in Bath, Maine with the Belie True health comes from building healthy relationships with your community, with your doctor, and with yourself. As a board certified family and integrative medicine physician, Dr. Mazzone and the whole staff at DaySpring are committed to supporting your wellness journey by providing integrative family medical care, osteopathic manipulation, herbal and lifestyle consultations, counseling and wave therapy. DaySpring offers an innovative membership based model of healthcare that gives you time together with Dr. Ponzoni to build a personalized wellness plan based on your health goals. Daily access for acute appointments is available and you can even schedule a secure video conference call in the privacy of your own home. I know Dr. Zak and his family and I believe strongly in the personalized whole person approach to health that he provides. This is why I am encouraging you to find out more for yourself by visiting dayspringintegrativewellness.com or by calling them directly at 20775, dayspring. Wellness the way It Should Be Love