The Comeback Kid

There are people out there who have the ability to spread  good energy wherever they go.  Jay Panther is one of these people.  He has over come serious injuries and life trials as he moves one step closer to his goals and dreams.

Check out his story- Skier fights back to top after serious concussion


SALT LAKE CITY — It's no secret that being a professional athlete takes talent, skill and hard work. But for one Park City freestyle skier, it's more than that — it's a constant drive to succeed even in the face of adversity.

Jay Panther knows what it means to fulfill a life-long dream. He held a coveted position on the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team until a severe concussion sidelined him. Now he's fighting back and inspiring others along the way.   

Jay Panther Free Skier 

Speeding down the slopes, navigating through a maze of moguls and twisting through the air — it's just another day at the office Panther. But this dream job was almost lost forever.

"It was terrifying to think I might not be able to ski or compete again," said Panther. "But potentially more scary was the thought that I might never be the same again."

Panther's story begins in the snowy landscape of Lake Tahoe. He grew up with the mountains in his backyard.

"They would pick me up from school and I would change in the back of the Subaru while we headed to the mountain," he said.

It was in those mountains that he found his true passion.

"I found out there was a U.S. Ski Team and you could go to the Olympics," Panther said. "I was like, that's what I want to do."

But at 12 years old, his family moved to Louisville.

"When I got there, obviously, there was no snow in Kentucky," he said. "So I focused on other sports."

At 18, Panther earned a full-ride scholarship to Vanderbilt University for baseball. But a late-night talk with his father would change the course of his life.

"It was terrifying to think I might not be able to ski or compete again," said Panther. "But potentially more scary was the thought that I might never be the same again." -Jay Panther, freestyle skier
"You know dad, what would you say if I told you I was going to leave Vanderbilt and go try to be a skier again?" said Panther. "Without even missing a beat, he said, ‘go for it.'"

So he did. Panther left college, returned to the familiar slopes of Tahoe and began training.

"In 2010, I won a U.S. selections event and that won me a U.S. Ski Team spot and World Cup starts," he said. "It was phenomenal. I will never forget that."

Jay Panther @ US MRI 

But in the fall of 2011, while preparing for a competition, Panther crashed and hit his head hard. He endured crippling headaches and dizziness for months.

A functional MRI revealed a severe concussion.

"The doctors were scared for me," said Panther.

He made the difficult decision to put skiing on hold and focus on his health. His search brought him to Heber City and Dr. John Hatch, a chiropractic neurologist.

"It was a pretty strong case," Hatch said. "I hadn't seen up to that point someone who had vertigo for as long as he had."

Dr. Hatch started Jay on a specialized program to treat his brain injury. The program included hour-long stays in a hyperbaric chamber and daily functional stimulations using light.

"We all receive input from our sight, from our sounds, from our smell — even taste," said Hatch. "Sometimes we can use those stimulatory responses or sounds or light and make changes to even lower back pain, neck pain and in Jay's case, concussion."

Panther said while the techniques were a little unconventional, they worked.

"I laugh and call it voodoo magic because some of it is pretty outside of the box," said Panther.

A follow-up MRI revealed no lingering signs of a concussion.

"The doctors were ecstatic," said Panther. "They had never seen recovery like that and they never would have expected to see that much improvement."  

This season, Panther is back in the competition. He won the top prize at the Freestyle North American Cup. When he's not training in Park City, he visits schools throughout the country to share one message.

Never give up on your dreams, he tells students, and persevere through any challenge.

"I think it's good for the kids to hear, and obviously good for me to hear," Panther said. "In all our trials and struggles we are not alone."

Panther competes Saturday in the U.S. Freestyle Championships back home in Lake Tahoe. A win there would earn him a spot back on the U.S. Ski Team, bringing his dream of competing in the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games closer to reality.



Source: KSL 5 New

Life is Awesome

Do you ever just think to yourself, Life is Awesome!?  In our line of work we get to hear some amazing stories, and meet even more amazing people.  It really begs the question as to how awesome can we be in this life?  There are so many great individuals that walk through our door each day, and we have the privileged of spreading their stories and being their friends.

We wanted to share one of these stories with you- 

Man behind Utah Cancer Organization Runs Across Country | Miles2Give.org | Landon Cooper

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A man with ties to Utah is on a mission to find a cure for Sarcoma Cancer. Landon Cooper is doing it by running across America.

“The tour kicked off when I lost a friend of mine about a year and a half ago,” said Cooper. “At the time I didn't know a lot about Sarcoma Cancer, but what I knew was a friend of mine, it wasn't time for her to go.”

Wanting to do something in honor of his friend, the 33 year-old ultra runner created Miles 2 Give, an organization based in Orem that raises funding and awareness for Sarcoma Cancer research.  

Landon Cooper| Miles 2 Give

Cooper started his journey Valentine’s Day in San Francisco. He’s running 20 miles a day until he reaches his destination in Washington DC.

Along his trek, Cooper visits survivors, those undergoing treatment and he even made a stop at the Cancer Wellness House in Salt Lake City.

“For us to meet survivors along the way, it's been their victory bus, when we come in,” he said.

For Cooper, giving hope to those affected by Sarcoma Cancer makes every long mile worth while.

“The reason the run is tailored the way it is, is people with cancer, families that are stricken with this, they don't get a fair chance to clock out,” said Cooper. “When we started our tour we're not clocking out until the very end. When I say end I mean when we find a cure.”

Cooper hopes to reach Washington DC by July or early August.

“Utah's been very good to me, I think the people of Utah would be happy to know the name of our RV is ‘Life Elevated’,” he said.

Source: KTVX4 News| Miles2give.org

US-MRI: Current Insights On Imaging Techniques For Diagnos...

US-MRI: Current Insights On Imaging Techniques For Diagnos...: Timely diagnosis of lower extremity infections is essential to providing effective treatment and preventing complications. Accordingly, the...

US. MRI Sports Imaging Has Utah's First Extremity MRI

U.S. MRI DIAGNOSTIC SPORTS IMAGING IN SOUTH JORDAN BECOMES FIRST HEALTH FACILITY IN UTAH TO ACQUIRE NEW SPECIALTY

MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING SCANNERSouth Jordan, Utah—U.S. MRI Diagnostic Sports Imaging in South Jordan has added a new GE Optima MR430s to its medical facility at 10696 S. River Front Parkway.  U.S. MRI is now the first and only medical facility in Utah to have this specialty scanner.According to U.S. MRI CEO Radd Berrett, the GE Optima MR430s magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system was specifically designed to be used on extremities such as arms or legs.  “GE’s new state-of-the-art system is much smaller, about the size of an ATM, and requires about one-fifth the space of a traditional full-body MRI system.  Patients actually sit or recline in a padded leather chair next to the scanner.  Only the targeted body part goes into the system.

 As a result, patients are generally more comfortable than they would be in a full-body MRI, virtually eliminating claustrophobic conditions,” he said.Berrett added that the new system is much faster, quieter and provides the highest quality digital images currently available in the marketplace.   He noted that the GE Optima system uses a 1.5 Tesla magnet. [Tesla, also abbreviated as T, measures the strength of a magnetic field—1.5T magnets are generally considered the clinical standard for the industry.  Early MRI scanners that appeared in the 1970s operated at strengths of 0.6T.] “Because of its anatomy-specific design, the system is able to pinpoint with great clarity the affected regions of the body, producing crystal-clear images aiding physician diagnosis,” Berrett said.  

US MRI

In addition to its recently acquired GE Optima MR430s system, U.S. MRI also has the larger, traditional GE Horizon MRI machine.  This unit is primarily used for MRIs of the shoulder, hip, spine and brain, but also used to conduct Functional MRIs (aka fMRIs) in diagnosing concussions, measure post traumatic real time brain activity and create treatment protocols following such injuries.According to Berrett, “U.S. MRI has quietly become one of the nation’s leading concussion resources for professional and world-class athletes ranging from the National Football League, National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.”Berrett said, “As the medical industry is undergoing so many changes, facilities like U.S. MRI are strongly positioned to serve consumer needs.  At our office, MRIs cost about 75 percent less than a typical hospital scan.  With big hospitals comes big overhead, and patients often end up paying much more than expected.  We make sure that our patients are never charged extra for facility, doctor, technician or interest costs.  This ultimately saves patients money, especially since so many insurance plans now have high deductibles.

U.S. MRI Diagnostic Sports Imaging 

”U.S. MRI patients do not need to be referred by a doctor to schedule an MRI (although Berrett said that numerous physicians and physical trainers throughout the state refer patients to his office daily).  Also, U.S. MRI accepts many insurance plans (Berrett suggests that potential patients call ahead to see if their plans are accepted and to see what is covered).U.S. MRI is the Official Medical Provider for the U.S. Ski Team, U.S. Snowboard Team and U.S. Free Skiing Team.  Its medical staff includes fellowship-trained musculoskeletal, neuro and chiropractic radiologists.For more information, visit www.us-mri.com