Patti C. is celebrating her one year anniversary of CrossFit and sharing her incredible progress with her inspirational story and we’re so proud of her!

Here’s what Patti had to say after one year of doing CrossFit.

“Today is my one year CrossFit anniversary. My goal for today was to be able to do one pull up.  Just one. I have not achieved that but, I  have lost 30 pounds and gained lots of strength! As great as that is, it is not the best thing that CrossFit has given me.

On February 26, 2016, I woke up with a little kink in my upper back. It kept getting worse and by the end of March, my upper back and neck was a mass of pain like I cannot even describe. My left arm and hand were completely numb. I couldn’t sleep, sit or lie down. I just paced circles in my house crying. My diagnosis was severe degenerative disk disease with 6 disks in my neck being affected. My doctor just kept giving me more drugs and referring me to more specialists (none of whom could see more for at least 4 months). One morning I decided that, if this was going to be my new normal, I was going to have to do a better job of living with it. I went back to a personal trainer I had been working with for a couple of years and asked him to help me.  I couldn’t hold a 5 pound weight in my left hand, I had to do push ups against the wall because my arm would just collapse under me. But three weeks later my strength was returning and the pain was reduced by about 30%. I wondered what would happen if I stepped it up a notch.

My friend had been after me for years to try CrossFit . I wouldn’t go with her because I had seen CrossFit and I truly didn’t think that I could do it. I was afraid to fail in front of people I knew. Then I read about the 6 week, Women’s Only Challenge at another box. I started on May 9^th, 2016 but, kept it a secret from everyone I knew. Six weeks later I knew I could do it. And my pain level was about 70% reduced. Thank you Reebok CrossFit Ramsay for giving me the support, coaching and confidence to start.

At the end of the challenge I moved to my current box, CrossFit Calgary. I have never worked out anywhere that was as inclusive, supportive and effective. Thank you Rhiannon and Brett Marshall for your leadership.  Thank you coaches Michele, Josh and Todd for teaching me, pushing me and keeping me safe. And my friends in the 9:00 am class, you are amazing athletes and  amazing people.

My neck is never going to heal but, thanks to CrossFit, I am managing it very successfully. At the one year mark, I am medication free and, on a good day I am 95% pain free. On a bad day, maybe 70%. But thankfully, there are not many of those.

And, I will get that pull up!!”

Patti C.