Positive Energy

By Kevin Whipps

It’s 5 a.m. on a weekday, and a woman is lacing up her shoes to head out for a run. It’s not a jog for her health, it’s not about trying to reach some personal goal. It’s to forget. To try to work out the pain she felt from her recent divorce and sort out her own feelings. She wakes up her daughter and son, they lace up their shoes, and the family goes out running.

The son doesn’t last long. He’s tired, and he doesn’t want to run this one-mile loop for the umpteenth time. But the daughter feels the urge to keep up with her mother, so the two match pace and run the loop again and again. For the little girl, she feels natural. Strong. Good.
This is how an athlete is born.

A Watery Road

Tere Derbez-Zacher is a study in contrasts.
As a child, she learned to love running. As a teenager, she learned how to swim and soon took the world by storm. As the grandchild of two French immigrants in Mexico, Derbez-Zacher grew up speaking Spanish at school and French at home. She is also a Mexican and French citizen.
Now 40, Derbez-Zacher remembers her parents divorcing when she was 5, leaving her and her brother to be raised by their mother and grandparents. The family worked a lot to support the kids, and that meant there was no one to watch Derbez-Zacher and her brother at home. To fill the void, their mother would drop the two off at a private athletic club every day from 4 to 8 p.m., which is where Derbez-Zacher learned to love swimming as well. She showed some proficiency right off the bat, and soon was invited to go to nationals. But as the competition and practice requirements ramped up, the commitments became too much for her mother. “I guess she thought that I was just going to miss school forever,” Derbez-Zacher says. As a result, she stopped swimming and returned her focus to school.

After high school came college and then working toward her graduate degree. As she continued her education, Derbez-Zacher turned back to swimming. “I guess part of it was that I never really completed that cycle,” Derbez-Zacher says. “I like to finish what I start. If I want to get into something, I either do it all the way, or I’d rather not. I’m black and white.”

The competitive spirit was still very much alive in Derbez-Zacher at age 24, but her coach at the time told her she was too old and he wasn’t going to waste his time training her. Initially, she was devastated by his hurtful words, but soon changed her mind. “No one can tell me what I can or cannot do. I am the only one that determines how far I can go,” she explains. At the time she thought, “Maybe I will never be the next big swimmer, but I at least have to try.”

She found a new coach, a man who was around her age and believed, as she did, that she could be a professional swimmer. Her goal was to become a champion someday,
and the two focused intensely on her process. “Within eight months I was a national champion, and then two years after that I was a world champion,” Derbez-Zacher says. As she stood there, holding her medal in Morocco in 1998, she knew that it was just the beginning.
Soon the sponsorships started coming in, and she joined the Mexican national team for a spell. She even qualified for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. But she was going through a rough patch in her life, and decided she needed a fresh start. She walked away from swimming, moved to Mexico City and became a news anchor for a national network.

That’s right, Derbez-Zacher was now on TV, interviewing famous celebrities and reading the day’s events. “It was fun, but I was not happy,” she says. “I like to know that I am making a difference in the world.” Being a talking head on the tube wasn’t cutting it for her, so she had to make a shift. Keep on moving forward.
She moved to America and took a job at the Mexican consulate. But she ended up leaving for political reasons, much to her dismay. “I think that when a door closes, it’s that something better is coming up for you. You’ve just got to be open to receive it — to get it,” she says.
While in the States and going to school, she decided to use her teaching background to volunteer at a local swimming school. There she met Kevin, a swimming instructor, and it wasn’t long before the two were married and had a beautiful daughter together. Things happen for a reason.

Running in Circles

One day Derbez-Zacher received a phone call from a friend. He was training for a marathon and wanted her to come out and practice with him. How long a run? 16 miles. No sweat.
At that point, Derbez-Zacher wasn’t running professionally, and didn’t really think about it much. But 16 miles — no biggie, right? “I say, ‘OK,’ because I think in kilometers. I’m like, ‘Sure, I’ll run with you. Why not?’” she says and laughs. But her competitive spirit kept pushing her forward; she would never show defeat. After a few more runs, her friend tried to prod her into running marathons, but Derbez-Zacher turned him down. Then he asked, “What about a triathlon?” Suddenly, she perked up. Swimming and running together? Perfect. What could go wrong?

“I started training [for the Olympic games], and I didn’t like it,” she says. “I hated swimming, because the swimming was long-distance and I was a sprinter. Biking was OK, but the swimming was open-water. When it came time to run, that was the only part that I really enjoyed.” The plan to do triathlons was scrapped, and Derbez-Zacher decided she was going to just run and train for the Olympics as a marathon runner. Soon she was running all the time, competing in marathons across the country. “The thing with training is that it’s better to undertrain a little than overtrain a little,” she explains. The problem was, in her joy of rediscovering her love of running, Derbez- Zacher was overtraining. And soon that nagging pain in her leg became something she just couldn’t ignore. It was time to get help.
Derbez-Zacher went through several different doctors. Some of them thought she might have a stress fracture in her leg, but nothing they tried could produce results. Ultimately,
she ended up at Arizona Pain in Scottsdale. At first, she was skeptical: Could this pain doctor really help her solve her problem?
After her visit, Derbez-Zacher found out she had a bulging disc, putting her L4 and L5 vertebrae out of alignment. In turn, that was placing pressure on the nerve that ran into her leg. But after a few shots and a visit with the chiropractor, Dr. Moore, she was sorted out and good to go. Three weeks after that initial visit, she was on the road again.

The Finish Line

Today, Derbez-Zacher is training to run in the 2016 Olympic games. She’s already pre- qualified for the Mexican team, but is also training for the U.S. Olympic Trials. She’s working as a teacher again off and on, and having fun with her daughter and husband. She’s also very, very busy.
But every day she wakes up, laces her shoes and goes for a run. She’s not running to forget, or to improve her health, but to meet a personal goal. She wants to become a world champion again — this time in a completely different sport, competing against people close to half her age. It’s an uphill battle, but with every step forward on the pavement, she gets that much closer to her goal. She feels natural. Strong. Good. This is how an athlete lives.

Radiofrequency Ablation Testimonial – Cari L. from Arizona Pain on Vimeo.

Whether our time is spent sitting at a desk all day, or up and about moving around our workspace, our legs can do a lot of heavy lifting. If they’re ever strained, overworked or just plain get fatigued, sometimes the solution is just to take a load off and relax for a bit.

But that fix doesn’t always work for everyone. Case in point: Cari Lash, a patient of Arizona Pain. She has 14 years of experience as a certified medical assistant in dermatology, and for the past eight of those years, she’s had pain all along the sides of her thighs, putting her in tremendous agony. “Anything I did was painful,” Lash explains. “It hurt to move and it got to the point where I would cry myself to sleep because I was in so much pain.”

She tried all of the usual over-the-counter medications, but nothing really worked. That’s when she came to see Dr. McJunkin at Arizona Pain. With years of experience under his belt diagnosing situations just like Lash’s, he recommended radiofrequency ablation as a solution to her problem.

For the uninitiated, radiofrequency ablation is a procedure designed to use heat and create a nerve lesion over a painful nerve. By doing this, the nerve stops or slows sending the pain signal to the brain, thus decreasing the amount of pain the patient is in.

This is an outpatient procedure, where a small amount of anesthetic is used to numb the area, then a needle is placed into the numbed area and guided towards the affected nerve. Once it’s in the right spot, an electrode is slid down through the needle and the painful nerve is verified. When everything is in the right place, heat is sent through the electrode to dull the surrounding pain fibers and therefore decreasing the amount of pain the patient is in. Think of it like one of those stun guns on Star Trek — it doesn’t kill the nerve, it just stuns it a bit.

“I had zero pain for a couple of months,” Lash says. “I was a little sore for about a month, but the pain was gone. In fact, I haven’t had any pain since the procedure, almost six months ago. I can now enjoy many things that hurt me before, including biking, running, long trips, yoga and several other physical activities — it’s awesome.”

Better yet, she never had to go in for a traditional surgery as some might recommend, forcing her out of work for days or possibly weeks. Each procedure was performed as an outpatient, allowing her to get in and out of the doctor’s office efficiently and quickly.

Would she do it again? Of course. “Doctors or chiropractors never told me to seek pain management,” Lash says. “I had to find it myself — thank God I did. This is the best thing I’ve ever done. All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Hard Work and Perseverance Pays Off

Bryan Howell has always been an athletic guy, but life somehow got in the way and put him on a path where he was 260 pounds and wasn’t working out as much as he would’ve liked. Back in 2005, he wanted to up his workout game from his usual routine to doing a full triathlon. It was a lofty goal, and he debated it a few times, but then his life started to change. Howell moved from Arizona to Colorado to retire and settle into a new life. A year later, he moved again. Three years after that he moved again, and by 2010 he found himself back in Phoenix, where he’s been ever since.

In 2011, he decided to finally take the plunge and run his first triathlon. He had plenty of bicycle experience — that was his sport of choice for a while — but this time he had a daunting challenge in front of him: a 400 yard swim, 12 mile bicycle ride and a 3.1 mile run. It was tough, but he made it through and placed second for his age group. Not too bad at all.

Howell isn’t a spry 25, however. Approaching the 40-year-old mark, his body performs differently than it would if he were a teenager. He had a new goal, but now pain was stopping him from reaching it. For that, he needed some help.

“I came to Arizona Pain about a year and a half ago,” Howell says. “I was having extreme pain in my knee. I wanted to train for the Ironman triathlon, but my knee was keeping me from doing that.”

The fix was a series of knee pain joint injections, which not only cut back on the severe pain his left knee was causing him, but also helped push him forward to pursue other goals. “Those injections gave me the confidence and the ability to train to the level I needed to get to.”

He had almost a year to go before his first real Ironman competition, and there was a lot of work to accomplish. After all, the Ironman is known as one of the most grueling triathlons in existence — hence the name. And the training for that competition involves doing a lot of triathlons. It was going to be a tough year.

His workout schedule became pretty intense. On Mondays he’s swim for 30 minutes, then run for 60. On Tuesdays, spin class for 60 minutes, then run for another 30. One of his bigger days was Saturday, with a 90 minute bike ride combined with a 60 minute run. It’s the type of schedule that would put some 20 year olds to shame, and he was doing it as a middle-aged man.

At this point, Howell has shed at least 30 pounds from his frame, and things are going fairly well. In October of 2011, he raced his first half Ironman, and finished in five hours, 22 minutes — a respectable finish for someone in the 35-39 age range category. And it was just the beginning.

In May of 2012, Howell competed in the Ironman St. George competition — and it wasn’t easy.

The swimming portion of the race was hampered by bad weather conditions. 4- to 5-foot waves were causing even the best swimmers to have negative process, and things just kept getting worse. It got to the point where the organizers started pulling swimmers out of the water — including Howell — because it had become dangerous.

But the race wasn’t over yet. Race officials explained how they would adjust things for the poor conditions, which gave some people the option to quit right then and there. Not Howell. He pushed forward into the cycling competition and decided to really enjoy himself, taking in the sights and sounds of the course and helping out his fellow riders whenever possible. He even clocked speeds just shy of 60 mph, which certainly didn’t hurt his time.

Next came the run, and at first he was doing consistent 8- and 9-minute miles. The number would drop to 12 minutes around the 18-mile mark, but while other entrants were giving up, he kept on pushing forward. At the end of it all, he finished in approximately 14 hours and 25 minutes, which was 3 hours better than he target time.

None of this would’ve been possible without a lot of hard work and the help of everyone on his team. But Howell does have one particular group to thank. “I really attribute all of this success to my work ethic and some help from Arizona Pain.”

See Bryan’s pictures and achievements in a short video here

The road to the NFl is a tough one, fraught with injuries, contract negotiations and hard work.

Oh, and pain. lots and lots of pain.

But let’s start at the beginning of Aaron’s story, back when he was just a kid growing up in Arizona. Back in the mid-90s, Robin Pflugrad, Aaron’s dad, was working at Arizona State university as the wide receiver coach. he’d take his son with him to some of the practices and games, an experience that really stuck with the younger Pflugrad. “I was a little guy, and every practice I thought I was a bigger part of the team than I really was,” Aaron recalls.  “Those memories really made me very strong of Arizona State. I always loved Arizona State, and I just felt blessed to be able to come back and play for them.”

These were the glory days of ASu, back when Jake Plummer was the quarterback and Pat Tillman was playing on the line. The Sun Devils appeared in the Rose Bowl in 1997, and although they didn’t win, it was still a heck of a run, and young Aaron was on the sidelines watching it all.

Of course he was going to play football, and so his school career path went the same way. When his father took a gig at Oregon, he was signed to the football team as well, making it possible for his dad to watch him at every game. Nothing wrong with that. “It was awesome to have him there on the sidelines being able to watch me for my first two years,” Aaron says.

But what was it like for him that first time out on the field in front of thousands of screaming fans? “That’s pretty crazy. I think the main thing is to just know who you’re playing for — an audience of one — and in reality it’s just blocking all the fans out and knowing that you have the skills and talent to accomplish the things you want to do on the field.”

When his father was let go however, Aaron felt he needed to make a change. “After [my dad] got released as wide receiver coach, I went through spring ball but just felt like in my heart that it wasn’t right for me to stay there,” says Aaron. “I got my release and I didn’t know where I was going to go. But then Coach Erickson called me up and said, ‘We’d love to have you down here.’ I was just ecstatic.” It’s funny how fate works sometimes.

One thing that Aaron has experienced a lot throughout his time playing football is the doubters. “A lot of times people will look at you and automatically assume something and put limits on you. That’s the thing that I’ve really found rewarding over my career — being able to break those limits and do things that I knew I could do. I’ve proved a lot of people wrong.”

And that’s exactly what he did. Once college was done, it was time for him to move on to the big show. he knew he wanted to play in the NFl, but also knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy task. he needed to train. Prepare. Get better as an athlete, and that meant taking care of some nagging problems that had been plaguing him throughout his career.

See, despite being a football player, Aaron isn’t particularly large. It’s an asset of sorts for him as a wide receiver — being nimble and fast — but when he gets laid out by a guy who’s 6’5 250lbs, he’s going to feel it. That takes its toll on the body, and even at his young age he wanted to solve the issues before they became more serious. After all, this is his career, not just some hobby. “I had some issues as far as tightness in my calves. I’ve always had a little bit of ‘issues,’” he says.

So what was one of his solutions? “I had never tried acupuncture before, and I really wanted to give it a try,” Aaron says. “It was amazing. It felt like it made me get better, and it’s something I’m going to continue to do throughout my career.”

In addition, he also tried out different massage techniques and had some chiropractic work done as well. “I’m a smaller guy, so a lot of times when I get hit my back will be a little bit out of alignment, or my hips will be a little bit out of alignment. I think that’s real important for me as a wide receiver — to just have my back inline so I can move the way I need to move and not be hindered by it.”

Although this isn’t the typical treatment that the average wide receiver might get, for Aaron, it’s exactly what he needed. “It’s so much better when you can just go to one area and get everything you need to get done to heal fast.”

Unfortunately, Aaron wasn’t picked up in the NFl Draft, and a recent stint in Rookie Camp for the Philadelphia Eagles didn’t pan out. That doesn’t mean that he’s giving up, however. “I’m still really hoping that I’ll get another opportunity to play in the NFl; to go through the pre-season and learn and grow as a player.” To do that, he’s training hard every day and doing everything he can to get picked up.

Should that not work out, he still has a plan. he’s going to get into the family business — coaching. he’s already spoken to a college about learning the ropes on the other end of the sidelines, and that will be the next step. “They’re not really sure what it will be yet, but just a spot where I’d be able to help out with the team and travel with the team, and kind of get my foot in the door.”

Whatever happens with Aaron, we know that he’ll succeed because he’s got a positive attitude. “A lot of it is just not listening to people trying to put limits on you,” Aaron says. “I think you can say this for anything in life. A lot of times people will put a glass ceiling above your head and you’ve got to work hard and believe in yourself and you’ll accomplish it.”

Read Aaron’s first story here

In 2006, Ron Barnard darted into traffic to prevent a friend’s 4-year-old son from being hit by an on-coming truck. successfully pulling the child to safety, Barnard took the brunt of the impact himself. The minister’s life- transforming moment of bravery resulted in long-term chronic pain.

I suffered a concussion, a severely broken left femur, a contused left lung, significant trauma to my neck and spine, a fractured right wrist, a sprained right ankle, strained pulled and torn muscles in my back and leg, and damage to my sciatic nerve, says Barnard.

“Though the injuries were significant, the grace of God was obvious. There was one major answer to all the prayers that were immediately prayed. The most immediate danger was the lung contusion that was causing internal bleeding. But before the helicopter could get me, to the hospital I had already stopped bleeding.”

Read more of Barnard’s story in the March 2012 issue of Arizona Pain Monthly here

Treated by Arizona Pain for his on-going pain, Barnard has been able to resume his life’s passion: missionary work in Africa.

“My wife Karen and I founded an organization called the southern Africa Mission network,” he says. “In a few weeks, my 21-year-old son Jacob and I leave for a trip to an orphan village in western Zambia. We provide training for university student ministries in south Africa.”

Barnard says treatment for his pain is critical; traveling alone to remote areas of Africa is not easy.
“The flights are long and challenging for someone with back and neck pain,” he says. “However, we’ve been partnering in southern Africa for many years and when we go all those who contribute to my health and recovery go as well.”
The Barnards’ organization – SAM – has several specific objectives in their African outreach. Their primary mission is to connect people and resources with mission and ministry in sub-saharan Africa. They are able to accomplish this mission by:

1. Mobilizing short-term teams and individuals to strategic partnerships in southern Africa. “We are active on university campuses, and in social justice and compassion mission opportunities. Last year, we had 90 students from the us serving in southern Africa, as well as four other volunteer teams totaling another 55 people. We put health care professionals, teachers, engineers, agriculturalist and anyone else willing to serve in short, mid and long-term mission assignments in southern Africa. Currently, we have eight people on assignment, for terms ranging from 3-12 months. We have placed volunteers in south Africa, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Zambia, with invitations to Swaziland, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya.
2. Working to plant student ministries on university campuses in south Africa and across sub-saharan Africa. “We believe if you can reach a student, you reach a future leader. If you reach leaders, you impact culture,” he says. “I serve as a student ministry mentor, working along side six student ministries and with some of the most amazing people from either side of the ocean. I travel often to train and to speak at conferences and campuses to reach students. We are about to help launch three new student ministries in 2012.
3.  Working along side churches in south Africa to impact mission and missions’ efforts in southern Africa.“We work closely with multiple churches that are on the ground everyday making a change. I’m an advocate for Jesus, his church and his mission.”
4.  Working directly and personally with the Zambia Project.“The ZAM project’s mission is to plant churches in rural western Zambia. This is a mostly forgotten and extremely rural region where many villages have yet to hear an accurate telling of Jesus story. I personally lead a team each summer alongside church leaders from the project to plant a church in the bush. These journeys to reach the inconvenient lost are some of the most challenging and rewarding days I’ve ever experienced. Additionally, the Zambia Project (operated by close friends from South Africa) ministers to the everyday needs of western Zambians. You can’t be the church and not care about the AIDS crisis, the subsequent orphan crisis, malnourishment and related poverty issues. The project includes a clinic that is yet to be sourced, an orphan school and is in the process of building an orphan village.”

For those interested in helping with the SAM project, Barnard says it is easy. There is opportunity for anyone, with any ability.

How can you help? Go. Give. Pray.

For those interested in seeing Africa first-hand, Barnard says there is opportunity for volunteers to travel.
“Everyone can and should consider going on at least a short- term mission trip,” he says. “Taking a trip isn’t nearly as important as choosing to live missionally. However, going is a part of being missional. We’d love to chat to anyone and everyone about how to participate by going!

For those unable or unwilling to travel, the organization can always use financial support. “It takes significant finances to make this mission happen,” he says. “You can give online via PayPal, or through our mission board. You can also invest via snail mail. No matter how you give, your giving is tax deductible and greatly appreciated. Thanks for considering helping us do what we do.
And finally, for those who are interested in supporting the work spiritually, prayer is always requested. “Jack Hayford says, ‘Prayer is invading the impossible.’ The challenges are real, the warfare is intense, but God is
faithful! We need and appreciate you caring and praying.”
To learn more about the Southern Africa Mission network, visit: www.thesamnetwork.com. Readers may also connect with Ron personally at here.

Minister Saves Boy’s Life By Darting into Traffic

By Kelli Donley

The Accident:
It was a Sunday morning in June 2006. Ron Barnard had just finished preaching in Rose bud, Arkansas. His sermon provided unwelcome foreshadowing for the day ahead. “I spoke how Jesus has conquered death for us,” he says.

I actually said, ‘Pardon me for being someone who still believes in eternity. This could be my day, June 11, 2006, and if it is, I’ll be ok with that!’

Minutes later when leaving the church, Barnard noticed a cousin’s four-year-old son racing across the parking lot. They called for Caleb to stop, but the child kept moving – unaware of the traffic headed his direction.

“I yelled at him to wait, and he did stop momentarily to let two cars pass from right
to left,” Barnard describes. “But he failed to see a full- size truck pulling a camper that was approaching in the near lane coming from left to right. We almost reached him, just as he ran directly in front of the truck. I don’t remember deciding to run into the road after him. By a miracle of grace I never stopped running.”

Barnard saved the child by pulling him to safety and taking the force of the impact.

I remember thinking we would both die, but I knew I couldn’t watch this little boy be hit! I scooped him up just before the moment of impact. It all happened in an absolute flash; still I managed to throw him out of the way a millisecond before being hit myself. It was so close that a tuft of Caleb’s hair was caught in the driver’s side mirror on the Ford F-150. yet, by Gods grace, other than a scuff on the side of his face, Caleb was fine.

Barnard wasn’t as lucky. The driver, traveling 40 miles per hour, send the minister 40 feet into the air on impact, before he landed in a ditch.“The driver, who I’ve been blessed to meet and become friends with, had no chance and was in no way at fault. It was in fact miraculous I landed in the ditch and not on the highway. If I had landed on the highway it is likely I would have suffered greater injury, and may have even been run over by the truck that hit me.”

The driver, Tony Merritt, came to the hospital the next week to visit Barnard. He confessed prior to the accident he was an atheist, but the accident had left him changed. He told Barnard he didn’t have a chance to hit the brakes until after the impact.

“Yet when the truck came to a stop, and he found the fortitude to open his eyes, he saw Caleb standing in the driveway across from the point of impact,” Barnard says. “Apparently he had done a combat roll and had landed on his feet across the highway. It was a miracle Caleb was alive.”

After seeing the child standing on his own two feet, the driver began looking for Barnard. The driver and barnard’s wife Karen found the minister in the ditch, where they began calling for help.

“I was laying on my stomach with my face shoved into the dirt, my left leg broken in a grotesque way, and blood coming from the concussion on the back of my head starting to run down over my face,” Barnard says. “I looked dead, and they were unable to find a pulse. However, within a couple of minutes I regained consciousness. The doctors would later say my regaining consciousness after that level of trauma was very abnormal.”

In shock, barnard began making jokes and trying to comfort those around him who were in duress.

“I had great peace and at one point made the comment, ‘I’m going be ok, but I think my leg is broken since I can almost see the bottom of my shoe without moving my face.’ The truth is I’ve never felt God’s presence as I did that day in the ditch.”

Barnard jokes that, “If you’re ever going get hit by a truck, you should try to do it right after church, and preferably directly in front of the church. Also, if you could arrange to be the guest speaker that morning and speak about how Jesus has dominion over death that would also be great!” Congregants surrounded the scene and began to pray for God’s mercy. The driver was stunned. For the first time, he reported feeling the presence of God.

I suffered a concussion, a severely broken left femur, a contused left lung, significant trauma to my neck and spine, a fractured right wrist, a sprained right ankle, strained pulled and torn muscles in my back and leg, and damage to my sciatic nerve,

says barnard. “Though the injuries were significant, the grace of God was obvious. There was one major answer to all the prayers that were immediately prayed. The most immediate danger was the lung contusion that was causing internal bleeding. but before the helicopter could get me, to the hospital I had already stopped bleeding.”

Recovery:

“Initially it was all about dealing with the shattered femur,” he says of his now years-long healing from the accident. “A 14-inch titanium rod was inserted through the broken bone. A year of therapy later, I was out of a wheel chair. The pain was intense and treated primarily with strong medications that came with their own list of challenges, making a good night of sleep a rare and precious commodity. Coming off of the medications was as much a part of the journey as dealing with the pain itself.

“However, by late 2008 I was experiencing significant pain in my neck and back causing headaches that seemed to wrap around from the base of the skull over the top of my head to my eyes. I saw several doctors in my area, including an orthopedic surgeon and a neurologist. one actually told me, “you got hit by a truck, don’t be naive, you’re going to hurt like this the rest of your life.”

In 2009, Barnard reached out to Arizona Pain Specialist founder Dr. Tory McJunkin. Barnard and his wife were friends of the McJunkins – who had supported the minister’s mission in southern Africa.

“He encouraged me to believe I could find relief and suggested that I fly out from our home in Virginia to Scottsdale. Honestly, from the moment I walked into the clinic I felt encouraged,” says barnard. After an initial exam and a series of MRIs, it was determined the facet joints in barnard’s neck were deteriorating causing chronic pain. He underwent steroid injections, radiofrequency ablation treatment and chiropractic therapy.

“By January 2010, I was no longer having headaches,” say Barnard. “Thank God, and thank God for using the team at APS. Getting rid of the headaches was a breakthrough I don’t have words to describe. The pain in my neck and back also improved exponentially and although I wasn’t pain free, I was able to be completely off prescription medications! I was able to resume
a full teaching and preaching schedule, as well as travel to South Africa and Zambia for mission work.”

While Barnard’s healing is on-going, Dr. McJunkin and the team at APS were able to
provide the hero with much needed pain relief. Barnard, a man of not just courage but also humility, is more comfortable speaking of the driver’s journey to Christ through the accident, and those whose spirits were strengthened by his continued recovery.

“Paul wrote in I Corinthians 10:13: ‘no test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.’ The truth is God has in no way abandoned you or me. He is faithful and faithfully for us. The help I’ve received at APS is no small thing to my family or me. It’s an answer to prayer and a testimony to the faith- fulness of God!”

The Mission:
Barnard and his wife Karen founded a Christian mission called the Southern Africa Mission network, or SAM. next month, Arizona Pain Monthly will feature the organization and let readers know how they can get involved.

For more information now,visit: www.thesamnetwork.com

Yvonne, Turner-Gonzalez, 43 from Chandler, says Dr. Tory McJunkin’s care improved her quality of life.

Q: What brought you to APS?
I suffer from migraines, and upper/ lower back pain. My arms and legs would go numb because of radiating pain. I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, and bulging/cracked discs.

Q: how are you feeling now?
I’ve seen great improvement – I have not had any migraines for more than a year. My arms and my legs don’t go numb, and I haven’t had to take the 5 medications previously prescribed for migraines, nor several other medications for body and joint pain. My level of pain has gone from a 10 to a 3-4 on my worst days.

Q: how has your quality of life been improved due to this care?
A: Tremendously! I’m able do many activities that I could not do before, like walking my son to school, exercising, house chores and my favorite activity – art. I can paint, carve, crochet and draw. being pain free has allowed me to go to art shows where my work is being shown. My recent accomplishments can be directly related to the procedures received at APS with Dr. McJunkin.

Are you a happy APS patient? Interested in being profiled in an upcoming article? Email editor Steve Sliker: Steves@ArizonaPain.com

Yes, Patti Koblewski’s finish at the Honolulu Marathon is remarkable. As a patient of Arizona Pain, she recovered from spine surgery to finish, of all things, a race of endurance. This is nothing short of miraculous. yet this isn’t just another story of an APS patient who’s gone on to incredible athletic accomplishment.

Patti Koblewski is notable not just for her stamina, but her spirit. four years ago, cleaning house – as she’d done countless times before – Patti noticed her back stiffen after a simple afternoon of vacuuming. Two days later, there was tingling and, she had numbness in her toe. After countless visits to her general practitioner with steadily increasing pain, Patti knew she needed specified care.

“I was referred to Arizona Pain,” she says. “An MRI showed a 14mm extrusion from my L4-L5 disc; essentially I had a small rock pressing on my spinal cord.”

After a microdiscectomy at a nearby hospital, Patti returned to APS for treatment for long-term care.

“I have permanent nerve damage down my right side, from my low back to the toe; some permanent numbness and tingling which can be annoying,” she says. “I have degenerative disc disease with 3 levels affected; all bulging; L3-L4 is partially collapsed, L4-L5 is collapsed and L5-S1 is on its way. I also have occipital neuropathy, which creates constant pounding in the back of my head and constant headaches.”

Patti manages her chronic pain with visits to a handful of practitioners at APS.

I have medial branch blocks and RfAs each year for my neck and back to help manage my pain; I also see chiropractor Dr. Chance Moore monthly for regular decompression; I have a TENS unit and manual cervical traction unit I can
use as needed at home too. These help manage my pain, which allows me to do basic exercise — and has allowed me to enjoy life again.

The former competitive and collegiate swimmer was grounded by pain. As someone who regularly found comfort and joy in exercise, being held back by persistent pain was life altering. Thankfully, with on-going care and attention to her condition, Patti was able to return to activity. “I keep finding new things I can do!” she says, laughing.

A Herculean activity Patti never previously considered was completing a marathon. It took just the mention from a friend for Patti to sign up. She knew with continued care and persistence she could be among the throngs throwing her hands up in victory, crossing the finish line after 26.2 miles in Honolulu.

“When a friend asked last year, we laughed. When am I ever going to get a chance to do something like this again?,” she says. “I visited my doctors and got permission to begin training, with their support. I had monthly visits to make sure I wasn’t creating any additional problems for my back.”
Finish, she did – in the process raising $3,200 for the AIDS Project of Los Angeles.

Patti crossed the marathon finish line in December, with APS supporting her race and cheering for her success. In admiration of her persistence, APS staff asked if Patti would consider becoming a patient ambassador. Would she be willing to encourage patients in similar situations? Yes, and then some.

“I have a graduate degree in clinical psychology,” she says. I volunteer with APS behavioral health therapist, Larry Lynch, to facilitate the pain support group. I help keep everyone connected via social media, coordinate and plan our social activities, and perhaps most importantly, I have online access during our meetings so we can do immediate research if necessary. I’m also able to bring a unique perspective to the group as both a person in pain and someone who is able to help counsel others.” APS staff and Patti are working out the details for those interested to participate in an exercise support group too.

“My motivation for the walking club was primarily to get people in pain moving when they think there is nothing they can do, like I did before my marathon, and to increase awareness in the community about pain management. It’s a responsibility to help others with their pain and let them know that they are not alone; there are options available for them!”

Patti’s enthusiasm is contagious. She is sincerely excited to encourage others.

I’m passionate about reaching those in pain, and doing what I can to help them find ways to successfully manage their pain. I want people to know that they are not doomed to a life of pain, depression and pills. you have options and there is support available.” Arizona Pain is a tremendously supportive team of doctors who provide comprehensive care to their patients, ultimately enabling them to improve their quality of life through successful pain management.

Those interested in the support group, or the walking club, can reach Patti at: pkoblewski@cox.net