Marie Rickerson: "I have my life back."

Four years ago, the arthritis in Marie Rickerson's knees and hip was so bad she could hardly walk. Her pain was excruciating. The three steps in her house might as well have been a mountain. She needed a walker or cane to move around. Taking a bus to the Gulf Coast casinos -- one of her favorite pastimes -- was out of the question.

After three surgeries to replace both knees and her right hip, Rickerson now is the first one on the bus and usually wins at the penny and nickel slot machines. Shopping with a big basket, cleaning her house, enjoying her flowers or dancing to the music of her grandson Trey's Cajun band, the 72-year-old Arabi resident says she can do it all.

Rickerson credits her remarkable turnaround to her doctors, husband Tommy's support and Chalmette Medical Center's Rehabilitation Center therapists. "I'm thankful to God and my therapists that I'm able to walk," says Rickerson, who recently visited the center. "I have my life back."

"Marie was a motivated patient who worked very hard," recalls Mark Paxton, L.O.T.R., one of her therapists and the center's Supervisor of Therapy Services. "Recently, Marie visited the therapy staff, and she walked so well and looked so good, I almost didn't recognize her."

9001 Patricia Street, P.O. Box 1727, Chalmette, LA 70044 (504) 620-6000