Tom’s Get There story
If you ask anyone at the ATI Winfield Clinic if they know “Tom” the answer would certainly be “Yes!”
Over the past five years, Tom Girdler has been a welcome fixture at ATI Winfield; a patient during four shoulder surgeries, a graduate of ATI’s F.I.R.S.T.™ program, a member of the Step Down Program*, a patient following a knee replacement in 2011, and a patient again after his second knee replacement in February of this year.
Oh, did we also mention that 71-year-old Tom is a Vietnam Veteran wounded in action, a retired professional tennis player, a marathon and long distance runner, a triathlete, a poet and a tennis pro?
WHOA!
“Tom is a hero!” says Matt Allen, clinic director at Winfield. “He always gives 100% effort with his therapy, but what is most admirable is the genuine concern he has for other patients. He is sympathetic to the plights of others, but at the same time, encourages and motivates them to maximize their outcomes with therapy. Tom makes an effort to ensure everyone else feels special and important, despite the fact most of us could not begin to imagine what he has endured.”
Back to Action
“After my first therapist Tony got me through my shoulder surgeries and rehab, I really never left ATI,” says Tom. “ATI got me back to work and to coaching, and I stayed in shape with the Step Down Program. When it was time for my knee replacements, there was no question that I would do my rehab at ATI.”
Following Tom’s most recent surgeries, the most important thing for him was to get active again, especially for his “kids.”
“I played professional tennis when I was younger, and I’m now a tennis pro. I consider all of my students my “kids” and I wanted to get back to teaching and coaching them as soon as possible. ATI got me back on the court, and back with my students.”
Tom currently coaches high-level tennis players from St. Charles, Geneva and Kaneland High Schools. He’s had players qualify for state, had two boys participate in the Davis Cup in the Bahamas, and is looking forward to the future of his current “12-year-old tennis prodigy.”
And, although Tom admits his marathon and triathlon days are over, he is looking at other ways to put his new knees to the test. “I am hoping to start paddle boarding, get back to snow skiing, plus I have an aspiration to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.”
ATI’s Biggest Fan!
If his coaching abilities and mountainous aspirations aren’t enough, Tom also has an artistic side. After submitting a poem about his experience at ATI (to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies) he was crowned a winner of ATI’s recent “Biggest Fan Frenzy” contest.
Want to tell you a story about a guy named Tom,
He came to ATI looking like he was hit by a bomb.
He started with Tony, who is now a big wheel,
Working on his shoulder until it healed.
Then it was on to both knees, that had to be replaced,
And was treated by Julia and Lindsay at the Winfield place.
Through all of the pain and the recovery at last,
Everyone at ATI made his experience a blast!
Tom says “I love ATI, and I love my therapists. They’re all my buddies!”
Well, Tom . . . the feeling is mutual!
*The Step Down Program allows discharged patients to use the equipment at ATI clinics for a monthly fee to they can maintain their recovery and home exercise programs.