MIAMI – Physical therapy is an essential part of healthcare, helping people recover from injury, increase mobility and improve their quality of life.
In this health report, we taken a look at how it is helping a long admired South Florida resident recover from a brain lesion.
Well known and popular sports broadcaster and former Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jimmy Cefalo has always taken life’s challenges head on.
In the last few years, that’s meant dealing with some daunting medical issues, starting in 2015.
“I was diagnosed with high risk smoldering myeloma. It’s a form of blood cancer, so it’s not the most pleasant of things,” Cefalo said.
In 2021, while getting ready for a broadcast, Cefalo was hit by a sudden numbness on the left side of his body.
“From head to toe I’m numb,” he said.
Doctors discovered a lesion on his brain, which at first was thought to be a sign of a stroke.
“He underwent a brain biopsy which identified the lesion as demyelination, and demyelination is a condition where the covering of the nerves peels off,” said HCA Florida Mercy Hospital Neurologist Dr. Jeffrey Horstmyer.
While doctors don’t know what caused the condition, Cefalo never developed any additional symptoms and actually began to improve.
“And a part of that was sending him to the Kohly Center at Mercy Hospital,” Horstmyer said.
Cefalo added: “In so many ways, with all these things that have happened, I’m very fortunate that I’m still upright and I’m walking, I’m still working.”
Over 50 million Americans seek physical therapy services every year and the demand for PT is expected to increase by over 18 percent in the next decade.