Latest / Numotion Ally Program Podcast / Wheelin' With Dylan: Sharla Peterson's Path to Empowerment
Transcript
- Leah Holderbaum: Mm. Welcome to the Ally Podcast, Wheelin' with Dylan. Today we have a very special guest on, so and I'm so excited to to speak with. Sharla Peterson. How are you doing? Thank you for joining the podcast. Thank you. I'm doing great. Just finished a really great weekend and just kind of chillin' this week. So this is a good opportunity to share my story with you. I'm excited to to be on here with you. I'm excited. Yeah. I mean let's let's talk about it. Can you tell us what what you did this weekend? So I went to the Olympia, which is the top bodybuilding competition in the world, and athletes from all over the world come and it's like the Super Bowl of of of bodybuilding. So we had a great time. We had a lot of wheelchair athletes there and met a lot of great people I've been following on Instagram that I haven't met in person yet. So it was fun to meet people and then meet some friends I met last year when I was at Olympia last year. I get to go on stage and show off my muscles if we think and and then and then I get to eat when it's all over. my gosh. That's right. So if if if for those who are listening or or or speci especially watching right now And if you can't tell, just check out Charlotte's Instagram, please, and you'll see that she will beat any of us up. I don't know about that. Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's like all of a sudden you're like this different person. It just makes everything enhanced and just look really good. So it's fun. So cool. Well, it's awesome that, you know, you're really good at it and and into bodybuilding and you're just on a big really big stage this past weekend. So I'm sure you've been really busy, so I appreciate you taking the time to talk today. And it's funny, so when I had followed you on Instagram, you know, I'm looking, I'm like, man, she's she's killing it. And a lot of from from my experience at least, when I look at people, others with spinal cord injuries, when people are at that level that you're at. a lot of times they've been maybe in a chair for quite some time. but I noticed that you're relatively newer, I mean not new new, but you were hurt how how long ago was it about two years did I see? Yeah. It's been two years in July. Two years. Okay. So do you mind sharing a little bit maybe how you how you got hurt and just a little bit of your journey and how you got here today? Yeah, so I was competing in bodybuilding before in two thousand twenty two and it was my first time competing. I'd always wanted to get into bodybuilding and so this was a kind of a a lifetime pursuit. So I finally did and I had a really great year, was able to compete five times and I made it to nationals and got second in nationals in in my age division. And then I took some time off to have some hernias repaired from my pregnancies. I have five kids and so I think I got one hernia with each pregnancy. But I wanted yeah. I wanted to continue Yep. I wanted to continue bodybuilding so I wanted to get those fixed so I wouldn't have any problems. And then I had that done in December and I had some time off from the gym just to recover. And I was slowly coming back into working out and I had I started a ninety day challenge and there was like ten things you had to do with the 90 day challenge, but I thought this will be a great way of me getting back into the gym and eating right and doing all the things. And then my coach that was over me for the 90 day challenge asked if I wanted to compete in November. So I thought, yeah, that'll be really good timing, you know. So then in July we were it was about seven months post my abdominal surgery, and I had made a lot of progress. I was able to start doing lifts with loaded loaded squats. I hadn't done that yet. I was still doing everything without a load on my back. I was working my glutes and everything. So this is my first time back on the Smith Machine. And I wasn't going super heavy. I just had a couple plates on. And I was actually in Utah with my my daughter, my youngest daughter was doing a volleyball camp. At BYU and my older daughter, she works as a hairdresser in Provo. And so the two of us went to the gym after my youngest daughter was doing volleyball. And so we did a really like 20 minutes of warm up, got our glutes all fired up, and then we hit the Smith machine and we took turns. She went first and then I went. And I was on my fourth set, so it was I was almost done with the workout. And right about you know my sixth rep or halfway in between my last set, I just felt this burst in my back. And my L one vertebrae burst in half. And part of it went into my spinal cord. So I was instantly paralyzed. And I have, you know, the bar on my back and my legs start going out from underneath me. And I s you know, I'm just like, what do I do? I I couldn't You know, the Smith Machine has these little clicks that you just you click on when you're done and it's pretty easy, but yeah, I was falling. I didn't there's nothing I could do. And so I thought, well, maybe I'll yell for help because I don't know what I'm doing. I'm going down to the ground and I don't know how to get from from underneath this bar. Yeah. And as I yelled help, I was able to with that kind of energy, I was able to drop myself from under the bar. And so I dropped down to the ground and got myself from from underneath so I didn't get squished by it. 'cause I I was already feeling the pressure on my neck. Like I'm surprised I didn't damage my neck because I was going down. And anyway, so I got from out from under it and I'm laying there and I'm hyperventilating because I'm like, what just happened? Yeah. And I'm looking down at my legs and they're not moving. Like I could not move my legs at all. And I touch my glutes and it felt like a bag of water, like I had no sensation in it. And it was just like it was just like a bag of water, like when you have your if you ever have dental work done and your your cheek is just really numb and everything, that's what it felt like. And so my daughter calls my husband right away because we're out of town and she's like, Mom, you can't move her leg, she just had an accident. And there was a lady at the gym that was standing right next to me and I said, Call nine one one, I just broke my back. And she called the ambulance and they came pretty quickly and they were trying to decide like, can you feel here? Can you feel here? Like I'm trying to figure out like where my level of injury was at. And anyway they got me onto the stretcher and at the time I was just in shock. I didn't have any pain. I just felt like like when it when it happened, I immediately felt like this warm sensation go down my legs. And so I'm laying on the ground and I don't have any pain. But once they got me on the stretcher and got me into the ambulance, that's when the pain hit and that was pretty intense. It was like I had like this big muscle contractions in my hip flexors. That hurt so bad and I would just scream and it would kind of come and go, like it would squeeze down and then it would kind of relax and which was nice, but then we get to the hospital and my daughter follows us in her car and she gets there and at this time now she sees me screaming. And she now starts crying because mom's in pain and she didn't see that side of me yet. And and it was pretty pretty hard to To have her in the room. I'm thinking, don't let her see me scream. I don't want her to see me in pain. I don't want her crying. but my husband canceled all of his patients for the rest of the day and got a a flight out as quick as he could. And then they ripped my clothes off with scissors. Well, they actually put me into a X ray first. So they tried, you know, they went to the MRI or whatever it was they did. And they said, Well, you're in luck, we have the best back surgeon. i i you know, that's on call today and so you're gonna be taken care of. And so they ripped my clothes off and then they sent me into surgery and it took about three and a half hours. So when I woke up my husband was there. He was he made it. And I had some quad movements back. So my quads were moving so I could extend my knee a little bit. but I didn't have any any movement from my ankles or in my calves, the ankles, toes, any of that. None of that was moving. And I didn't really have much on my my qua my my hamstrings. So I couldn't I couldn't bring my knees up because I didn't have hamstrings. I could just kind of kick out. so they were very happy about that. They were like, okay, well then it's incomplete and hopefully you'll get everything back. And they had to, you know, fuse my spinal cord or my vertebrae. And so I was in Utah for about a week in the hospital. And then I they transferred me through ambulance to Mesa, Arizona, into the rehab hospital. I started rehab. I was there for about three weeks. Anyway, back to the hospital. I about four days after my accident, I'm like well I'm s I was doing a ninety day challenge and I'm on day you know, it happened on day forty three of this ninety day challenge and I'm like, I can still drink a gallon of water every day. I could still read a book for thirty minutes every ten pages a day. I can still wave my arms up and down, even though I can't put weight in them or go to the gym. I can still do that. And then I can get in my wheelchair and push myself around for thirty minutes every day. So I started fighting And I can I'm like I can weigh and measure my food and I can stay on this plan. So I kept doing the ninety day challenge even though it wasn't like what I wanted to do, but it was like the best decision I could have made because it really kept me from worrying about my future. It kept me focused on something that I could do every day. Right. it helped me get through the pain that I was going through. So I just kept going and I kept posting on my Instagram day forty six, day forty-seven. Like this I'm getting a total body workout and physical therapy today. So that challenge. Yeah, it was called glam and grit, and I got the grit part, so I got the grit the grit award. You got both, but the grit you really you really paid dividends on that one. Yeah. So Anyway, it it it was helpful and definitely had some downtime you know, down moments in therapy, rehab, you know, there were days of tears of like it it I was just this is hard and and the pain and like at night I I just couldn't sleep because of the my legs would hurt so bad and that was definitely an emotional roller coaster. I I hear you. I mean, we've talked a lot on this this podcast with like of course with other pe other people with spinal cord injury and we talk about the emotional roller coaster when you first get hurt and how that's almost like harder to deal with and overcome sometimes than the physical injury, which it sounds really crazy to say, but it's a lot to take in at once, which is why I was super impressed that you just continue your ninety day challenge because When I got hurt everything went out the window. I was like, Okay. I like I couldn't think about anything else except for kinda what was in front of me. So that was impressive, that you did that and obviously it helped you almost like cope and and get through it, I'm sure. Yeah, it it was really helpful, because once that ninety day challenge was over, I was I I was so empty. I I just was like, What's my next goal? and All of a sudden I realized that I'm gonna be in a chair for a very long time. And this is day to day and I can't drive and I can't you know, so many things I can't do. And that was that was when I hit more of the depression was when that ninety day challenge was over because it's like now what? Now what? Reality almost kinda kicks in a little bit and you're not able to just like focus on on on something else, right? I have to say it's it was very impressive to me when I, you know, looked you know, into your Instagram and everything and saw that you were bodybuilding before, hearing your story, you're bodybuilding now. So with my like accident out I was in a car accident, there were certain things that happened let's say that night or a certain road that almost like I wanted to avoid for a long time. Almost it was almost like a PTSD kind of reaction that I had for just like the first couple of months or so. I would have to imagine, working out and then getting hurt and you know, suffering your spinal cord injury there. I would have to I would think that it would almost be difficult to go back, but you did it right away, which sounds like the the best way to to handle it and do it. Were there any fears that you kinda had to overcome or maybe any doubts that you had to co overcome getting back into into the game? Yes, for sure. I was a little embarrassed to go back to the gym in a chair. wasn't sure what people would think. I was a little intimidated of like how I was gonna get on the machines or how I was gonna be able to perform everything. I still had some restrictions. I still had like my back brace on and certain things I couldn't do or lift, but it was a little bit intimidating for sure going into the gym and I I went to ability three sixty first. They are a non profit organization for adaption you know, all ad all adaptive awesome people. And they have yeah, they have a weight room where you like it has a bench on the machine, but you can you can actually move the bench out of the way it's It's like on a it's it's connected but it has a way of you c you can just move it. It's got on wheels or something and then you can just put your wheelchair in that spot and work out. So it's very adaptive, very accommodating. So I started there because I didn't know where else I was gonna be comfortable with. But after a couple of weeks there I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna try going back to my home gym 'cause it's so much closer and you know, I was dependent on everybody for rides and I felt bad that people would have to take that much time to drive me all the way out to Villity three sixty, which is, you know, twenty, thirty minute drive. So, I just found a way of having people either pick me up or drop me off at the gym. And I I was pleasantly surprised that when I got there so many people were like, Can we help you with plates or can I help you with anything? I mean I got that from day one. So I had a lot of a lot of people there helping me and offering to help me and it just it felt so good and I was able to maneuver my chair around like every single machine. So so I just just kept going. Nice. Wow that that that's awesome. I mean like able bodied people have a fear of going to the gym because they are afraid of just like working out a around other people, like people looking at them. And so Yeah, imagine being in a wheelchair, right? I mean people people people are always looking at us. It's like we're a prime target anywhere we go, honestly. It just is what it is and you just kinda get used to it after a while. but especially the gym, I mean listen, what we do is ki it's kinda interesting, all right? I mean we're just that cool. People can't help but but but look at us a little bit. But I I'm I that's nice. It sounds like you you overcame that fear pretty quickly though. and I'm glad that you just you gave it a try 'cause you have to kind of jump into things sometimes to see that it that it works and that it's okay and probably not as bad as we think it was in our head. Sometimes we almost make things up in our head and make it you know, make us so more scared than we need to be. So Yeah. That that's that's awesome. So, if you I d I I have a question that I love to ask everyone with the spinal cord injury. So it's only been two years for you. But if you were to go back, especially maybe when you're rehabbing or you were in the hospital, if you had to go back in time, just two years, is there anything that you would almost tell, you know, that version of Charla to either give her hope or maybe any words of wisdom and advice? well I remember, you know, being in therapy. I w I'm at home but doing outpatient therapy. And my you know, challenge was over and I remember thinking This is gonna be so long. And how am I gonna get through this? Like my mind, I was an incomplete and I had some quads back and I thought I should be walking in a year, you know? And I thought, how am I gonna get through until my until I'm walking like a year? How am I gonna get through a year? And I there's just that feeling of like I just wish I could lay down and go to sleep and some and just wake up. Like I don't I have to go through it. Like, I didn't want to go through it. And so I guess that what I would have to say is that it it's gonna be an amazing journey, and it's not as bad as you think it's gonna be. It it really it is like life is gonna change, but it's okay because it can change for the better. So that's great. That that is great advice. It it's very weird, but spinal cord injury, as much as like, you know, it's it's not the most fun thing in the world. It has its problems, it's it has its difficulties. At least for me, it gave me perspective and I feel like it did make me a better person, honestly. Like it's that's a positive way of looking at it. It's like almost like you embrace the journey. Think about the people you've met along the way, the things that you've learned. your family. I'm sure, you know, your family has grown Together and stronger over this. That's just seems to be what happens sometimes. Yeah, it really is. There's just life takes on a new perspective and it's like, this is the this is the view I'm going to get now and it's a beautiful view. So yeah. Awesome. Well that that's a great way of looking at it. Well yeah, you've you followed people who were in wheelchairs doing bodybuilding, you saw them on Instagram, maybe you connected them online and then recently it sounded like you got to meet a lot of them over the weekend. how has that been kind of talking with them? Is there like a good spinal cord injury almost like community that you have found over the past two years? And just wanna know your thoughts on some of that. yeah, I feel like when you have a s specific sport and you're in a wheelchair, it's like you just automatically connect because your your hearts are just in the right or the same spot and so a a lot of them are from foreign countries as well, and so we don't always get to see them, or sometimes there's that language barrier. So it's just nice to to be there. And you know, the smile means a lot. That's how we communicate the smile or hug or whatever. And we, you know, cheer each other on on Instagram. And it's it's just been great. And then I did meet one of the wheelchair pros that I haven't I've never met him, but we've been following each other on Instagram and It's funny because I like he likes a lot of my posts. I like his posts. But I've never like gone down his page and like really looked at him. I just see that little icon of his Instagram. And so when he showed up, I was like, Who is this person? Like he's got big shoulders. Like he's a bodybuilder. He's in a chair. I should know him. And I was like looking at him like, Who are you? And then he's like, I'm Tori. And I'm like I should know that you're a Tory. But it was so funny. And then we it's like you have this instant connection with people and it's like, I love that person. I don't know what it is, but we just share the same the same energy, the same, you know, desires and love for the sport. So anyway, that was kinda fun. That that is hilarious. That's a good story. Thank you for for telling us that. It's true, I mean, so like when you or playing s like wheelchair sports with other people, you do have even more of a connection. In general, though, if I see like a pair out in public just randomly, maybe shopping or something, some I mean sometimes I don't know, there's almost like this mutual head nod or something or maybe we get in like a conversation, like what's up man? How long you been hurt? Like you you know I don't know. It's just there's something about it, you know, we understand I mean no one perfectly understands, but I know just speaking with you, I know that you and I have probably some of the same problems, some stuff that we have to go through, you know, our life is a little different. We're used to those same old looks, you know, out in public. we've learned how to transfer and break down our chair really good, you know, and it it it's fun. So that but it's even more special, I'm sure, for you with the people that you've met along the way. You guys have the same goals. you have to be in in your sport a motivated person with a lot of grit and you didn't even, you know, stop that Right when you got hurt, you said, Okay, I'm finishing I'm finishing my challenge. So that's yeah that's that's inspiring. So what's next for you? I know that you're probably always training and stuff like that. Do you have a any goals or anything coming up in mind? I do. I have several. Let me let me hear. I'm gonna hear them all. All right. Well, I just got a new wheelchair. So my first wheelchair was pretty big and I have my anti tip bars on and I just feel like a baby with them. I don't know why I'm just like, I shouldn't have these on. You gotta take the training wheels off. Yeah, I gotta take the training wheels off. But I kinda discovered that it was just not a really good fitting chair, and so I went through the process of getting a new chair. Now it's smaller. I can't say it's lighter because I didn't go titanium, which I sh you know, maybe someday I will. But it is smaller and then like, okay, I want to be able to do wheelies. I really want to be able to do wheelies and like at least dance. Like I want to like be able to just kinda do a r a fun dance, like the roulettes or whatever. And so that's that's one of my goals is to be able to to do wheelies and really get around my my wheelchair well. So I've been working on that and that's my first goal. my second goal is I'm getting back into my paddle team. I paddle with a canoe team. we have an adaptive paddling group in in Arizona. We have a temp we have a lake, it's called Tempe Town Lake and they practice there three times a week. And I I worked with them starting in January last year. We did a couple of races in April, in May, and June, and we we usually go to California for some of the races there on the on the beach on the ocean. And then I got I got really focused on to my Olympia. So I kind of gave up my paddling for a while. And they went to Hawaii and did races and all that and I missed out. But I really wanted to do well on at Olympia. So now I'm getting back into my paddling. So my second goal is to to do well. We have a race coming up in November, so I gotta get started on getting back to doing really well. And and then my third one is that I actually am going to have an off season. I have ten months to twelve months of putting on some muscle, so I'm excited to get fat. So I'm gonna start putting on some some muscle and eating food and so my next goal is to be ready for a competition. Hopefully we'll have a competition in August. So if we get another amateur girl to get her pro card, then She can compete and we'll have a competition in August and so I wanna be really ready for that. So That's awesome. That's awesome. Well I'm excited for you and and you know, I'm following ya and and t to see your journey and hopefully one of these days on your on my feet I'm just gonna see you doing some wheelies. I know. Me too. Yeah. You gotta pull out on stage too, you know, when you're flexing and maybe pop a wheelie or something. I don't know if anyone does that. Probably like against a r I don't know if that's a rule or something, but that would that'd be pretty cool. Well, if I'm a guest poser then I probably could do that, yes. Okay. But if I'm competing I don't know if I can. So Okay, okay. Just depends. Yeah, all right. Well well that that's awesome. And sometimes it's the s the smaller goals. you know, when you first get hurt, I mean even if you've been hurt for a long time, like for me it was driving was a big deal. Getting my hands and my car and then with that you have to learn how to break down down down your chair real good. And it's so funny, like I was talking with my brother about this the other day. I like broke it down two seconds, you know, did my thing. And he was just kinda like looking at me laughing because he remembers when it first happened when like when I first got hurt, like breaking down my chair was hard. Like it was. And and I would almost do anything to avoid it. Like if I had to like go if I wanted to just go to Starbucks or something, I would leave my chair and there's nothing wrong with this, like I might but I would leave my chair at home and you know, drive off and come home home. And it's like I do that all the time. Yeah, do it all the time. Now I live in a place where I'm not just like it's like an apartment complex where I'm not gonna do that. Yeah, yeah. So and then with my work I'm I'm transferring and now the whole breaking down thing is like secondhand nature. Trust me, if there's a drive thru option when it comes to stuff and it's gonna save me a you know, a transfer and a breaking down, I'm probably gonna do it. but it's funny like over time you look at things that maybe were such a big deal or were really hard. transferring maybe even on into bed or something maybe used to be a little bit of a pain and and now I look at it and it's like I don't even even think about it. It's second hand nature now. so like with those little goals that we accomplish along the way, it becomes easier over time and then and then you people like you have their eyes set on on bigger things. I mean you're gonna be like paddling in Hawaii by next year, I'm sure, so that sounds like that sounds like a good time though. That sounds like a fun goal. I ni I need to make that a goal for me just so I can go to Hawaii. I know. Yep. Good excuse. That's awesome. Definitely. Well, thank you so much for for joining our podcast today. We really appreciate it. And, you know, the Ally program, just to emphasize this one more time because we didn't touch on it too much, is cool because it gives people a lot of resources for spinal cord injuries. you can access podcasts like these and and talking with others who have injuries who have really awesome goals like you do have already accomplished goals. I feel like you've you've done you've done a lot and that's impressive. And sometimes people just need to see others doing it to know, hey, this this is a possibility. Sometimes you just gotta push yourself out of your comfort zone. It reminds me of you going to back to like just like the normal gym that you used to go to, right? It's like you have your doubts, but you did it and you found out, hey, this is this isn't so bad after all. And Ally program also provides a commu community. So you've met a lot of people along the way now. I know I I meet people all the time in my in my line of work, but there's we have this thing called the internet now that it can be good and it can be bad. but the good thing about it with the Ally Podcast is or the Ally program is there's a community for spot card injuries. We can, you know, chat with each other and and throw things out at each other and see kind of what works for you, what works for me, maybe how we we do things as simple as grocery shopping or go going to the gym. That's that's what I would ask you about, you know, stuff like that. Yep, how to get around. Yeah, it's such a great resource for sure. Yeah, it's awesome. So I I appreciate you so much again. Thank you for your time. I look forward to continuing to follow you on your journey and maybe again in the future maybe we can do a a podcast and I'm sure you'll tell us another twenty things that you did in whatever next year is. So I appreciate it. Thank you so much and hope you have a good one. Alright, thank you so much. Nice to meet you. Thank you. Nice meeting you.