Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/1022543
T M C » P U L S E | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8 24 "You've never quit anything in your life. You're not going to be a quitter now," his father replied. "If you've done your best and you fail, then that's OK. That's not quitting. But if you haven't done your best, you can't come home." At that moment, Alford realized he hadn't given it his best. He got in his car and drove back to school. To this day, Alford considers that advice one of the greatest gifts his father gave him. • • • In May 2008, Alford returned to TIRR for the second phase of his rehabilitation, a rigorous program that tested his physical limits. Mary and a team of occupational thera- pists, physical therapists and aides rallied around him as he trudged through his recovery. "Even when he was the most broken and the most wounded, he always had his determination and his kindness. He was so engaging," said Meg Marquart, a physical thera- pist who helped Alford at TIRR. "I had never seen the man shrink away from a challenge. He was always asking, 'What's next? What's the next step?'" At TIRR, Alford participated in a neurorecovery therapy program designed to rewire spinal pathways below the site of injury in paralyzed patients. During each session, he was lifted into a weight-bearing harness that allowed him to stand upright over a treadmill, while his therapists and assistants manually moved his legs to simulate walking. The locomotor training essentially stimulates the body into relearning the motor skills required for walking by sending sensory information from the legs and trunk to the nervous system. Alford accepted the fact that the tables had turned on him: He wasn't the doctor in charge anymore. He was the patient. "When I learned to listen, to take advice, to take commands, that's when things started getting better," he said. "It was a new territory." He came to embrace the idea that, although he could no longer use his legs, he still had his brain and his hands. He could still be a great surgeon—even if that meant being in a wheelchair. "There's no proof that a para- lyzed doctor can come back to work, but I never gave up the faith that I can do that," Alford said. "I know what my best is and my best is in a wheelchair now." In October 2008, after 10 months of intensive rehab at TIRR, Alford returned to work at Houston Methodist Hospital in a Permobil power wheelchair that can be adjusted to a sitting or Bess Alford (daughter), Mary Alford, Lauren Alford (daughter-in-law) and John Alford (son) stand behind Eugene Alford and his service dog, Sam, during a trip to Glacier National Park.