Overcoming obstacles: Milton resident believed in recovery

Last Christmas, Barry Goodinson didn't know if he would ever walk again.

But with a little faith – and a lot of hard work – Barry now walks around his quaint, 18th century Milton home with no assistance.

“I always believed I would get better,” he said on a late fall day sitting in his cozy, historic home on Mill Street. “I was really, really lucky.”

After spending his entire life working in social services, he never expected to be on the receiving end, he said.

Barry is a little bit country, with a big city education. He grew up in southeast Massachusetts, spending his boyhood exploring dozens of acres of woods and fields surrounding his childhood home. After earning a master's degree in public policy from Georgetown University, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he found a career working for nonprofits like United Way, AIDS Action Council, an emergency shelter and other places using his writing skills for outreach, fundraising and program development. With a little luck and a lot of skill, he pursued a degree in landscape design from George Washington University, which led him to Green Spaces for DC, where he worked on capital projects in city parks and developing public/private partnerships, as well as working with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Barry always has been a very active man – biking and hiking and spending recent years summering in Lewes and Milton. But about two years ago he started to feel numbness in his right foot, and he knew something was wrong.

At first, doctors couldn't quite figure out what it was. But as he was getting ready for a camping trip with his son, he lost all feeling in his foot. At that point, he knew it was something serious.

When a doctor told him he doesn't have a 20-year-old body anymore, he shot back, “I'm 53, not 93!” Barry is sharp and on-point, even in the face of a serious medical condition.

After multiple MRIs, X-rays, physical therapy sessions, various doctors and specialists, Barry returned to George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he had been treated for a broken neck 16 years ago. There, his former doctor – after a variety of nerve conduction studies that included painful needles with attached microphones – diagnosed him with severe spinal stenosis in the middle of his spine. Barry said his spinal stenosis meant his vertebrae were growing around and choking the spinal cord, and that his particular diagnosis was relatively rare.

On Dec. 10, 2013, Barry underwent surgery to release pressure on the spinal cord, reconstruct vertebrae and implant rods in his back. The stenosis affected about five vertebrae, he said, and surgery left him with a scar about a foot long. He thought he'd go in surgery, spend a few days in the hospital, followed by rehab and physical therapy sessions.

Instead, he woke up paralyzed.

He spent four days in intensive care. He was then moved to a recovery ward, which housed mostly stroke victims. “It became sort of surreal,” he said.

Barry spent last Christmas in the recovery ward, and during his time there he received two memorable gifts: a leopard-print snuggie and a paraplegic handbook, featuring Christopher Reeve and his wife on the cover. He kept the snuggie. He tossed the book.

He then moved to the National Rehabilitation Hospital, where therapists encouraged him to try wheelchair sports and activities. He said he wasn't ready to give in just yet.

“Maybe one day they'll tell me I'll never walk again, but right now, the recreation I want to pursue is walking,” he said. He has no problem setting what may seem like an impossible goal, and nothing will stop him from reaching it. Whether it's his health, as with his career and his community involvement, Barry focuses on getting the job done – and so far nothing has stopped him.

Barry moved to Milton in 2011. He had shared the historic Milton home with his former partner as a summer home before deciding to move there full time.

When he was finally discharged from the hospital in mid-February, he knew he wouldn't be able to return to the 1730s-era house, which was anything but handicap accessible.

So he turned to friends. He went to stay with Jeremy and Merrill Stock in Culpepper, Va., the same friends who were caring for his big, fluffy dog Guinness while he was in the hospital. At their home, he had access to a first-floor bedroom and bathroom that were wheelchair accessible.

“I don't know what I'd do without them,” Barry said. He couldn't say enough about the Stocks, as well as his big brother, Greg, who he said helped keep him motivated.

For more than four months he stayed with his devoted friends and worked nonstop at the Powell Wellness Center in Culpeper, Va., a state-of-the-art rehabilitation center, which he said houses the most advanced aquatics program on the East Coast.

For months, he was completely focused on physical therapy, both on land and in water.

By April, he moved from his wheelchair to crutches. In mid-to-late summer 2014, he began using one crutch. Now, he moves around his Milton home on his own.

“I've come to the realization I'm not going to make world records,” he said with a smile. “But it's odd to think about that term 'disability.'”

It's still a struggle to walk, he says, and he still uses his crutches while in public. But Barry, who is very fit and stills stays as active as possible, doesn't let his physical struggles overcome enjoying his life.

He's working to remodel his home piecemeal, hiring contractors to paint and spruce the place up. He does consulting work for a variety of historical landmarks in New England and Children's Beach House in Lewes, stemming from a vastly successful career working on strategic planning, fundraising and program development in the Washington, D.C,. area. As the chairman of Milton's Planning and Zoning Commission, Barry also has headed up a rigorous schedule of public meetings to revamp the town's comprehensive plan, which now is nearing completion.

“I love this process,” he said. “People move to Milton because they see the great potential.”

It was a long road that brought the Massachusetts native to settle down in the little town of Milton, but he says he wouldn't have it any other way.

“It was fate that brought me here,” he said. “I'm taking a chance on Milton.”