July is Disability Awareness Month, and there’s one story I’ve been wanting to tell for years, because it belongs to a family I love dearly: Kay, Barrett and Ben Gunter.
Before September 6, 2006, Kay’s life was full of movement. She walked The Al Bueller Trail five or six times a week, biked, took yoga classes, lost herself in her garden, and traveled with her family every chance she got. She loved walking the beach and collecting shells along the way. She was strong and vibrant… and honestly, she still is. Just in a different way now, one that I find even more remarkable.
Everything changed in an instant. A near-fatal car accident left Kay with injuries that meant four months in the hospital, and over the following eight years, more than 45 surgeries. She lost the use of her arms for a full year, which meant relearning how to do almost everything, the small things and the enormous things, in entirely new ways. A portion of her leg was amputated, and she had to learn to walk again on a prosthesis, which she’s told me was and still is one of the hardest things she’s ever done. It took four years before she could get behind the wheel of a car again.
Through every bit of it, one person never once faltered – her husband, Barrett. Kay calls him her anchor, and honestly, I can’t think of a better word. An event like this could break anyone. Instead, Barrett just kept showing up, helping her onto her bike, helping her into her prosthesis every single morning, planning family trips around accessibility, doing whatever needed doing, day after day, for almost two decades, without a single complaint. If you ever want to know what real love looks like, look at Barrett Gunter.
Kay has had incredible people around her – family, friends, therapists, her prosthetist, and her caregiver Emelie, who has been by her side since the third week after the accident. After a four-year wait, she got her first service dog, Cruise, a companion who stayed with her for ten years. Today that role belongs to her sweet service dog, Beamer.
Kay’s story and more importantly how she talks about all of it still gets me: she says she’s simply grateful to have survived, grateful for every day she’s given, however different those days look now. She takes life as it comes, and she leans on her sense of humor to get her through-a humor that, if you’ve ever met her, you know is sharp and wonderful.
These days, Kay trains at Empower several times a week with Blaine (or whoever’s covering when he’s on the road), logging mile after mile on the recumbent bike and staying on top of her own PT exercises almost daily. Right now she’s deep into the 28×28 Mobility Challenge — committing to at least 28 minutes of movement every single day, for 28 days straight. Go, Kay go!
As many of you know, her son Ben trains with us too, on his own schedule. Ben was born with a seizure disorder, and shows up week after week to work with Blaine anyway, with a spirit that our whole team has fallen in love with. Barrett has worked out with Patty for years (when his schedule allowed) and his sister, Gay has more recently joined the Empower family as well, training with Telese.
Here’s the thing, the Gunters aren’t just clients to us. They’re friends. Barrett, an OB doctor, was by my side for 36 of the 50 hours of my labor with my daughter Emery. After she arrived he and Kay showed up at the hospital with muffins and were some of the very first people to meet her. We were all there to celebrate Ben’s 40th birthday, and we’ll absolutely be there for his 50th when it rolls around. Blaine and his wife Leigh, often get together with the Gunter’s to share a meal. That’s just who we are to each other.
Kay will be the first person to tell you that she really doesn’t like the spotlight. But her strength, her humor, and Barrett’s quiet, unshakable devotion are exactly what this month is about, and I am happy she agreed to let me tell you a bit of her story. Kay, we see you, we are so inspired by you, and we feel unbelievably lucky to share this life with you and your family.
Kay is raising funds through her 28×28 Challenge for So Every BODY Can Move, a national initiative fighting for insurance coverage of prosthetic and orthotic devices for physical activity, care that’s currently, absurdly, classified as “not medically necessary.” If Kay’s story has touched you the way it’s touched all of us, we’d be so grateful if you’d consider supporting her page: 👉 Support Kay’s 28×28 Mobility Challenge
Kay, Barrett, and Ben, thank you for letting us walk alongside you all these years.
With so much love,
Jess
And the Empower Team
