Buckeye Wellness Center Crucial Fitness Resource for People with Spinal Cord Injuries
VALLEY VIEW, Ohio — Exercise bikes, an unweighted treadmill, a seated stepper and other workout machines fill the newly carpeted room at Buckeye Wellness Center in Valley View. But this is far from a typical fitness center.
Owner Christopher Wynn designed the gym as a place where he and others with spinal cord injuries can work with specialized trainers to build muscle mass — and hope.
“This has been a long time in coming,” says Wynn, who opened the fitness center with his wife, Susan, in the fall after four years of planning and pursuing financing.
He glances over at 21-year-old Miranda Liggett, who is working out with trainers Mike Giardina and Kyan Johnson. Liggett, a quadriplegic injured four years ago in a car accident, has traveled with her mother, Marcie McCoy, more than 90 minutes from Strasburg, Ohio, for a fitness session at Buckeye Wellness.
Both trainers work Liggett’s legs one at a time as she lies on her back on a low table.
Sweat drips down the young woman’s determined face as Johnson slowly lifts Liggett’s left leg. “Pick it up, drive it up, drive it up,” he says.
When he has the leg fully raised he says, “Hold it, hold it, hold it.”
