Grace G.

Grace G. was a high school student playing soccer when she kicked the ball and felt something wrong in with her knee. But she had scored a goal and wanted to finish the game so she played on in spite of the injury. It turned out she tore her ACL and meniscus. Because her mother works at Allied Services Skilled Nursing and Rehab Center, Grace trusted her therapy to Allied.

Grace’s surgeon advised that she have one month of outpatient physical therapy before her surgery, which she did at the Luger Center in Scranton. Her surgery was successful and she followed it up with three more months of physical therapy. She enjoyed the Allied gym so much, she continued private workouts there after her therapy ended.

Although she can’t sprint as fast as she once could, in all other ways Grace is fully recovered. She plays a variety of sports, swims, and runs two to three miles a day. She is a life guard and a swim team coach at Big Bass Lake. She loves swimming so much that she plans to try out for the water polo team in college next year.

Besides being a very athletic student, Grace is well rounded. When she couldn’t play sports, she took up drama and fell in love with acting. She won the lead in the school’s plays for the previous two years. Her favorite role was Rosie in Bye, Bye, Birdie. She was an officer with student council for six years, the last two as Vice President.

Grace will soon attend LaSalle University in Philadelphia to study Mass Media and Marketing, and dreams of becoming a reporter. She’s already been on television twice, once when she won a contest to appear on WVIA and then as a featured patient in Allied’s Miracles in Rehab campaign. She hopes some day to be on television every day, reporting the news.

When asked what was miraculous about her recovery, Grace says, “My injury made me afraid I would get hurt again if I went back to sports. But my therapists helped me rebuild my strength and my confidence. I have finally lost my fear and hope to play sports forever.”