It was an ordinary day for 8th grade student Landon Severson. He was just starting the new school year and went to marching band practice.
However, his day changed when he started to feel the tingling in his legs after practice. Then the pain became increasingly worse. As he was debating about getting help, he realized he could not get up. He could not move his legs. He was then put in an ambulance and taken to the hospital.
After a series of tests, Landon was diagnosed with transverse myelitis. He states that he was affected from the waist down and could not walk, let alone march. Additionally, the disease made him feel dizzy upon getting up and affected both his bladder and bowels.
His doctors decided that physical therapy would be the best way for him to start fighting back against transverse myelitis.
For his physical therapy, Landon spent six and a half weeks at an inpatient facility and then spent another seven weeks at an outpatient facility. During physical therapy, Landon did lots of stretching and strengthening exercises to combat transverse myelitis.
Incredibly, Landon has made great progress in a short amount of time. He went from not being able to walk to a wheel chair and now he can amazingly walk with two canes. Landon thinks he can get better each day and plans on marching in the band next fall. He is strong and has the willpower to keep getting better.