Tale of terror
March I was working out at Bally's Gym Studio City, California on the Elipitical Trainer when the right pedal broke 30mins into a 90min routine. When the pedal snapped the handle which is attached to the pedal was snatched out of my hand, my right leg was jammed into the concrete floor, I lost my balance, fell back onto the rear of the machine, bounced off and landed on my left hip.
The resulting incident left me with damage to my right hand, a busted coccyx, serious damage to my low back, a fractured left hip, damage to my elbows, knees and feet. I also experience frequent headaches and am for the most part a complete shut-in.
But the damage to my phycial person is nothing compared to the destruction the incident has had on my life. Now, nearly 2yrs later, I am still in recovery, waiting to have the second of a two knee surgeries. The right hand requires constant exercising to keep it from swelling and they may have to do surgery on my low back if the L-5 cannot be reduced. I am in therapy 6 of 7 days a week. My elbow aches, my feet ache, my back sounds like popcorn whenever I move, my legs throb, I have spasms along my spine and around my coccyx which make it difficult for me to use the latrine, sit-down or stand-up and so much more. Most clothing causes me extreme discomfort, which means I usually wear PJs or other baggie fashions for short outings. And that's just the beginning of my misery...
I lost a GREAT JOB, had to put my car (a stick-shift which I love) into storage and have spent more than $30 thousand of my own money on medical costs and other expenses. After spending all of my cash I applied for SSI/SSD. To survive while I was waiting the 6mos for SSI to reply, I was forced to use credit cards I've been debt free for years and to borrow money from friends.in January I was denied SSI and was forced to apply for public assistance. GR was also denied me. But the icing on the cake... I subsequently regained all of the 40lbs I'd only recently lost.
BALLY'S HAS NOT PAID ME A DIME!!! I wrote EVERY NEWS NETWORK and spoke with several publications about my plight, but no one is interested in writing the story because Bally's is BIG advertising business.
So... All I can do is continue to slide down hill until the bottom meets me. But I hope my tale of terror helps remind all that large conglomerates like Bally's don't give a damn about us and the system although we pay for it is not set up to help anyone.
0 comments