Patient stories: Russ Mills didn’t just learn to walk again, but to walk his daughter down the aisle

Russ Mills faced a litany of health woes, from surviving a stroke to being treated for bladder cancer and finally having his kidney removed, leaving him largely bedbound and struggling to balance even enough to stand.

Despite all these challenges, Russ was determined to walk again. After all, his daughter was about to get married and Russ was not going to miss his chance to walk her down the aisle and have that father-daughter dance.

Home care to help with relearning balance turned into outpatient rehabilitation and physical therapy to build up his strength and endurance. Time spent working with his physical therapist, Melanie Combs, allowed his care team to recognize symptoms of Parkinson’s, including shuffling or freezing up when he was meant to move forward. Russ was referred to the Big and Loud program, exercise-based treatment focusing on larger movements with repetition to build up neuroplasticity and practicing speech to help patients speak more clearly and intelligibly.

“Russ had that goal to walk his daughter down the aisle and do that father-daughter dance,” said Combs. “Not only did we go through the Big and Loud program, we also began ending every session with dancing. We also practiced walking down the aisle, using the music his daughter had chosen for her ceremony. We had the receptionist come out to play the part of his daughter, as she was about the same height.”

When it came to Russ’s goal, Prisma Health Blount Memorial Hospital’s team went all-in, doing what they could to help him be ready to celebrate his daughter’s wedding in style.