OCALA, FL (352Today.com) – For some people, successful physical therapy happens in a clinic. For Esmee Bancroft, it happened while sorting piles of donated clothes.
Bancroft, founder and CEO of Resilient Ocala, formerly known as the Ocala Clothing Swap, developed an autoimmune condition that caused her nerves to stop communicating with her muscles. The resulting paralysis came in waves. At times, she used a walker. Later, she needed a wheelchair. Eventually, she required a power wheelchair just to move around her own home and get herself to the bathroom.
“Soon after we discovered the autoimmune condition and started treating it, I started rebuilding strength,” she said. “And I used Ocala Clothing Swap, sorting the clothing as my PT. Like, they have you do rainbows all the time to build strength, and that’s looking at clothing and putting it in a pile, lifting the bags of donations.”…