Overcoming Adversity and Achieving Goals at Craig’s PEAK Wellness Center

On the morning of May 30, 2022, Christa Moritz completed the Bolder Boulder 10K race by walking 6.2 miles.

“While it was a scary experience for me, it was also awesome,” Christa says. “Achieving that goal was extremely important to me because I worked so hard. I was very proud of myself.”

And Christa had every right to be proud. Just eight months earlier, the 35-year-old was severely injured in a scooter accident, sustaining a stroke and a traumatic brain injury.

A Birthday Concert

Together with her husband, Sam, and several friends, Christa was riding a scooter in downtown Denver heading to a music festival.

“It was Sam’s birthday, and we thought it would be fun to rent scooters,” she recalls. “Riding along the bike path, I remember skidding on some wet grass as I attempted to avoid a few pedestrians.”

Christa fell onto the concrete, hitting her chin. While she had some cuts and a chipped tooth, she felt okay to continue to the concert. But after arriving at the venue, things quickly changed.

“I began to slur my speech and lost my balance,” she says. “After being rushed to the hospital, the ER doctors discovered I had two facial fractures on both sides of my jaw. One of the fractured bones punctured my carotid artery, which produced a blood clot and ultimately led to a major ischemic stroke.”

She was immediately transferred to a larger hospital, where doctors performed an emergency craniotomy to allow Christa’s brain to swell and gradually heal. “My doctors confirmed right-side brain damage and left-side weakness and paralysis,” she explains.

After two weeks in the ICU and six weeks in inpatient rehabilitation at another facility, Christa headed home in a wheelchair.

“When I got back home, I felt so frustrated and trapped. My previous doctor and therapist told me I probably would never recover, but I have always been a very active person. I hated being stuck at home in my chair,” Christa says. “I just wanted to walk again and live my life, so I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and take matters into my own hands.”

Rolling into the PEAK

In December 2021, Christa rolled her wheelchair into Craig’s PEAK Center and shared her ambitious goals with the wellness team. Their immediate answer was, “Yes—you can do this, and we can help make it happen.”

Christa shares, “Their belief in me and unwavering support meant the world to me. After hearing such negative feedback from my previous medical team, it was so exciting to have all of the PEAK trainers in my corner. I felt like I could do anything with their help and encouragement.”

Craig’s PEAK Center—which stands for Performance, Exercise, Attitude and Knowledge—empowers individuals with neurologic disabilities to optimize their recovery and pursue lifelong health and wellness goals.

The center serves individuals in the community with any type of neurologic condition via adaptive equipment, group classes and personal training. Originally launched through several generous grants, the PEAK Center continues to receive donor funding today. In fact, about 90 percent of members receive scholarships. 

While most community-based fitness and wellness centers have little or no adaptive equipment or expertise, the PEAK Center offers cutting-edge technology as well as a team of trainers with specialized expertise to support individuals in a motivating environment.

In addition to a fully adapted fitness center and one-on-one personal training, the PEAK Center provides functional electrical stimulation bikes, aquatic therapy and group exercise, such as adaptive dance and yoga classes. And state-of-the-art specialized equipment—including Exoskeletons, Vector, ArmeoSpring, Lokomat, AlterG and HydroWorx—helps individuals achieve their rehabilitation and activity goals.

Chelsea Lownsdale, the PEAK’s operational program coordinator, adds “At the PEAK Center, you are more than just your injury. You are someone with a spirit, with goals, with a past and with a future. We want to offer a space and a community for you to be healthy, well and supported as you venture on your journey. They are not easy shoes to be in—living with these injuries and diagnoses—so to have a place where you feel welcome, seen and supported can feel like home.”

Moving Forward

Today, Christa spends four days a week at the PEAK. “I am now able to drive myself there and walk in on my own without any assistance,” she says. “I’m not only building strength and endurance, but I am also building confidence in my skills and confidence in myself and my recovery.”

This past May, Christa completed the Bolder Boulder again, beating her time from last year. Her new goals include biking in Craig’s Pedal 4 Possible fundraising event and learning how to run again.

“My dream is to someday move from walking the Bolder Boulder to running the 10K race,” she says. “In the meantime, I am enjoying my time at PEAK. It makes me so happy to be there. I see progress every time I’m there and feel safe with the equipment, trainers and other participants. Unlike regular gyms, there’s nobody staring at me or making me feel different. PEAK is so welcoming and inclusive. It feels like family.”

Pushing the Limits

Just like Christa, spending time at the PEAK has been extremely beneficial for 32-year-old Candy Dungan.

“When it comes to achieving my many goals, I think of PEAK as a partner in crime,” Candy says. “Using insurance to cover physical therapy only goes so far, but PEAK is always there for me. Their motto is ‘let’s do it,’ and that support and motivation is very important to me.”

Back in March 2018, Candy—a professional downhill skateboarder—was skateboarding down a mountain pass with some friends when she misjudged a corner and hit a guardrail post at 45 mph.

“I continued to roll through the guardrail post and down a cliff until I found a branch that I could grab onto in order to stop my fall,” Candy recalls. “It took about 30 minutes for someone to find me and begin the rescue process.”

She adds, “I was wearing a full-face helmet, spine protector, kneepads and slide gloves, but still suffered a T11 fracture and a complete spinal cord injury. I couldn’t move or feel anything below my belly button. The first doctor I saw informed me that I would never walk again. In fact, the only medical professional who suggested that I might have any chance of walking again was my surgeon, who gave me a 3 percent chance.”

Hope and Motivation

Arriving at Craig Hospital after her accident gave Candy the simple gift of hope. “My favorite part of being at Craig was the PEAK Center,” she recalls. “Spending time there gave me confidence that I could someday get my mobility back. The PEAK trainers didn’t dismiss my goals. Their attitude was so positive and encouraging. Regular gyms had no idea what to do with me, but PEAK’s equipment and knowledgeable trainers helped me move forward.”

In addition to taking advantage of PEAK’s personal training and wellness gym membership, Candy spends time taking adaptive dance classes and using the functional electrical stimulation bike.

Today, she is thrilled to be able to walk with a walker during her personal training sessions. She has numerous goals for the future, including learning to walk for mobility and excelling at adaptive sports, such as skiing, archery, dance, kayaking, mountain biking and luge.

“I feel so much stronger today, thanks to the PEAK,” Candy says. “And I feel very grateful for their confidence and support. They have not only given me hope when I most needed it, but also gave me a lust for life after my injury.”