Derek’s Story
Written by Derek’s wife and NCEFT Board Member, Nicola Liu
“Derek is a retired Marine Corp Captain. He suffered a brain injury shortly after his 25th birthday, which left him in a coma for 60 days and with a bleak prognosis of making any meaningful recovery. Even after he miraculously regained consciousness, Derek has had to relearn to eat, drink, walk, and talk, and unfortunately he still needs help with many daily living tasks.
While an inpatient at the VA Hospital, we were given information about NCEFT’s equine-assisted programs. Derek had no interest in NCEFT as he had never ridden a horse and he was apprehensive to try something new that would make him feel vulnerable and further expose his post injury deficits. Thankfully, we were able to persuade Derek to at least visit NCEFT and he was won over almost immediately by his therapy horse. Derek has been a regular client at NCEFT ever since that first lesson in 2008, and is currently part of the Adaptive Riding program.
NCEFT has helped Derek physically (improving his strength and balance), cognitively (learning riding patterns and horsemanship), and emotionally (the connection with the horses and the amazing staff at NCEFT has given him so much confidence). NCEFT has and continues to be an important part of our family, and we’re so grateful for the improved quality of life it has given to Derek.”
Learn more about NCEFT’s horses here.
