NORMAN, Okla. (KFOR) — Karlyn Blumenthal takes the hard cases as Operations Manager of a local law firm.
“Any kind of problem,” she states. “That’s how we help people.”
But her own hard case came up suddenly in January of 2024 as she opened the front door to the office right after an ice storm.
“I probably took one step like this,” she demonstrates, “and I know I was probably right here when I landed.”
She went down hard, breaking her left femur near the hip joint.
“I’ve had some pretty painful things go on in my life,” she chuckles. “That was the worst.”
Her surgeon, Dr. Richard Kirkpatrick, operated the next day, inserting a titanium rod and several screws to hold everything in place.
Blumenthal’s recovery, considering age and scoliosis, remained uncertain.
Kirkpatrick says, “I distinctly remember talking to her about this being a fracture of bone fragility.”
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Blumenthal continues, “He said, ‘I’m pretty sure you’re going to have to teach yourself to walk.”
3 months and 3 physical therapy sessions later, her insurance running out, Kirkpatrick suggested a power lifting gym, of all things.
“Do resistance weight training to build bone and muscle,” he says.
“It was hard,” Blumenthal says in tears, “because I’ve always been very active.”
Karlyn struggled into Fortitude 405 earlier than she probably should have.
“They asked if I was walking and I said yes,” she recalls. “I lied.”
Trainer Phoebe Lindley had her squatting with a broomstick at first.
Blumenthal kept showing up 3 times a week for 90 minutes.
“She came right away,” Lindley remembers.
The improvement was slow but steady.
“I just started feeling better,” says Karlyn.
Somewhere along the arc of recovery, her trainers thought it might be cool to see a grandmother show up and compete at a powerlifting competition.
“I said, let’s go,” Blumenthal agrees.
Less than 2 ½ years after her injury, she is a medal-winning competitive powerlifter in squat, bench press, and deadlift.
She figures, “I am stronger now than I ever have been.”
This grandma gained a superpower she’ll never give up.
For more information on Fortitude 405, click here.
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