so getting closer and closer to being able to stand up straight. should see some major improvements in the next four months,,getting closer

Its painfully slow, two steps forward, one step back, but its fucking happening. Very very slowly my body is getting straighter and walking is easier and more pleasurable….

here is a short clip of me walking 13 months post surgery. To your eye it may look the exact same as before, or very simmilar….

However, I am noticing a marked difference in my ability to stand staighter with my legs together (which has been very difficult) I still cant stand up straight with legs together, BUT I seem to have gained anywhere from an inch to two inches since spring , and feel that I am several months away from achieveing a totally straight standing posture, which would mean a close to perfect walking gait! (thats the hope!)

So, just to re-cap a few things:

1) was fit enough to enter a Brazillian Jiu Jitsu Competition in July
2) went to India in July with the intention of finding a cheap place to eat well, focus on exercise and work with an Ayurevedic doctor / clinic. Travelled all through the south of India looking for a place and all I found was hard beds, insanely populated towns and cities, useless clinics and stress. by week 5 i was hunched up almost like before surgery and trying for the first time in my life to get morphine for the pain.
3) took the last of my money and booked a one way ticket to Peru, with the intention of a) meeting Dr JE Williams and b) going to the amazon to work with the different jungle medicines there c) getting the fuck out of india!

Whats happening now
Very simply I am taking about 3 – 5 months to work intensively on bringing my inflammatory levels down! This needs to happen so as I can get as full range of movement as possible, and increase that range of movement with the tissues able to repair and regenerate.

I also want to re-double my efforts in stretching, strenghtening and re-aligning my body!

Will be back in touch soon with more detailed break down, thank you so much for your support!
Bran

The story
Diagnosed at the age of 19 with a form of arthritis called Ankylosing Spondylitis I became crippled and unable to walk without the use of crutches!

I spent almost 13 years trying to heal two completely fused hips and a twisted spine, my whole adult life has been spent investigating and trying various types of healing…this is my story.

Part 1: What your support has meant to me!

Since Surgery everyday is more amazing than the last

I have had people come up to me and hug me, people telling me its a miracle (of course the miracle was the support from my community and the expertise of the surgeon and his team), its been absolutely radiantly beautiful. I have unleashed a whole load of energy post surgery that was building up for years, its been dynamic and crazy and wild and at its essence its been so so so lovely!

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive. ~Anäis Nin

It’s like this:

like being in love and the sensation amplifying with each sunrise. It’s like being a child again, the days are long, the days are full of excitement, the nights are pregnant; whispering mystery’s and veiling ancient secrets. Life circles and is magnanimous again. Life is real again! Real and beautiful! Can you hear this?

You brought me back to life, to the beauty I couldn’t touch, to the power I couldn’t stand and now its here. Alive. I bless you all everyday, a thousand candles light inside my heart for you my friend: that we met at this time and that your friendship would be the force that took me from my knees to my feet again.

…thank you so so so so much!

PART 2: Where I am now health wise

8 months post surgery I have no problems with my hips. My spine was under a lot of pressure and distortion for over a decade and seems to be getting better all the time and finding its own correct alignment.
As I have said many times, I can cycle, horse ride, climb, do some light martial arts sparing.

My dreams are set on Parkour, martial arts and long distance walking. Parkour??, check out this video:

I would like to walk around the world, at least some of it, my walking is still very strained but getting better and better. As I said in my recent update, I consider the Walking project over when I can walk from Rathfarnham – Tara, replicating the walk I did on crutches without them this time.

There will be a very indepth report & film when I achieve that goal and conclude the project.

PART 3: Where to from here

India! For the following two reasons -

- I have approx 2,000 Euro left from the money raised
- Kerala, India offers in my opinion the best therapies for spinal distortion, arthritis etc at the best price (this conclusion is based on my experience in India with various treatments post surgery)

PART 4: Summary and Accounts

Ok so I had said that once the 5 month rehab had concluded that I would go to sponsors about how to use the remaining funds. I continued doing rehab here in Dublin once I got home, at the Harvest Moon Centre and with the Irish Strength Institute, trying different methods to bring my inflammation down etc. It seemed the logical way to progress as there was then and still is now a lot of work to do. The project had by no means finished.

My accountant is preparing the accounts at the moment and I would ask you to check back onto this site before the 12th of July for a financial summary.

Ok so what follows now is a very basic summary of my time from August 2010 up to May 2011, including a very brief summary of the therapies employed, with some photos at the end. PLEASE NOTE: On the completion of the project there will a much broader and indepth analysis complete with medical charts.

Basic Summary

Stage 1
August 2010
27th Buy Flight
October 2010
12th Obtain visa for India
13th Obtain Visa invite for Russia
16th Obtain travel insurance
17th Obtain visa for Russia
17th Depart

Stage 2
October 2010
17th some airport miles off where I’m supposed to be and then a few hrs in a hotel airport
18th October Quality Inn Sabari,
19th Apollo Hospital Chennai, pre operative tests
20th Surgery on left hip
25th Surgery on right hip
Nov 2010
2nd Move to Ideal Beach resort 3 star hotel complex
15th Leave Chennai, fly to Perm Russia

Stage 3
15th Spend a day in Frankfurt on route – Do first flotation tank post surgery!

Stage 4
November 2010
16th Arrive Perm Russia
December 2010
23rd Ride a horse as part of physical therapy for the first time in at least 15 years
January 2011
7th Suffer an anterior dislocation of left shoulder in swimming pool
14th Girlfriend arrives from Ireland to provide love support incl. cooking, shopping, cleaning
18th Masha Egorova hangs herself
26th 33rd year on earth
February 2011
11th Stop using crutches
13th Catch the first fish of my life in the Kama River
March 2011
11th Girlfriend leaves for Europe
30th Provide talk and demonstration to therapists at a seminar in a children’s rehabilitation centre in the town where Tchaikovsky was born,
April 2011
4th Depart Perm for Dublin

Stage 5
14th Do the first jiu jitsu class of my life
30th cycle from Baile atha Cliatha to Contae an Chláir
May 2011
1st cycle back

Surgery & Therapy Summary

This section is way to detailed to be able to go into right now, and will be set out in detail in the future for anyone who may be interested in the applicability of them to their own circumstance!
The following are some therapies I utilized whilst in Russia:

- Russian Banya
- Ice Water Bathing
- Zalmanov therapeutic baths
- Ippotherapy
- Therapeutic yoga
- Conventional Physio
- Feldenkrais Method
- Meditation
- Anti-inflammatory diet
- Hydrotherapy with and without instructor

Again thank you so so so so much! Please check back over the next couple of weeks for accounts summary, Any Questions you may have at all fire them at me dbrannic1 @ yahoo.com
Go raibh maith agat!!

Some Photos

Cold Water Dousing, the best thing for moving lymph fluids other than exercise, March, Perm

Inversion on hanging swing – incredible and totally under utilized method, March, Perm

The river and the day I caught my first fish, Feb, Perm

Testing out the new hips on the climbing wall, April, Perm