When Jennifer Sherman needed help, the YMCA at Baxter was the only place that offered it.

A 2005 car wreck in Greenville left Sherman, now 40, dependent on a wheelchair and unable to speak. She suffered a traumatic brain injury and shoulder problems. Her mother Trudy Wohlstrom has been caring for her ever since. Sherman lived in Easley at the time of the accident. Afterwards, she spent six months in a Charlotte physical rehab center, then she moved back in with her parents in Lake Wylie.

"Her doctor thought the only thing that would help her would be pool therapy," Wohlstrom said.

The problem was that Medicaid does not pay for pool therapy. Sherman can no longer work, her father is retired, and her mother had to retire to take care of her.

"It's the hardest job I've ever had," Wohlstrom said.

With limited income, the family could not afford to pay for pool therapy anywhere they looked, Wohlstrom said.

"We went to the Rock Hill Y, but they wanted us to pay for a full family pass, we just couldn't afford that," she said. "I couldn't find any program to help her anywhere."

Then one day in February, Wohlstrom stopped by the Y in Baxter after a trip to Lowe's Home Improvement. She was blown away. By the end of the month, Sherman was enrolled in the Y's 50-50 program (50 visits for $50). Sherman has been working with Y trainer Lisa Arrage one-on-one two or three days a week for an hour at a time, walking from one end of the pool to the other and using water weights.

"Her problem is she doesn't have any balance," Wohlstrom said. "She does very well with it, we can tell a difference."

Four months ago, Sherman couldn't get out of her wheelchair. When she began the therapy she had to be strapped into safety belts and floats, Arrage said. Now Sherman can walk the pool holding onto only Arrage or a single foam pool noodle. Outside of the pool, Sherman can now stand and take a few steps using a walker

"Her mom's goal was just to get her out of the chair," Arrage said.

Because Sherman was stuck in her chair for so long, the muscles in her legs had atrophied. The pool therapy is helping to slowly rebuild that muscle mass. It's also helping her regain her balance, which has been impaired since the wreck.

"It's neurologically a slow connection between what her brain is telling her body to do and her body actually doing it," Arrage said.

"The key is getting in the pool and actually doing it."

She's also starting to regain her speech, though it is still labored and difficult to understand, Wohlstrom said.

Arrage began working with the Harris Street Y in Charlotte two years ago. In February she moved to the Baxter Y. She is a certified trainer and also worked with Carolinas Medical Center in conjunction with her position at the Harris Street Y.

The 50-50 program is designed for people with limited financial means and medical therapeutic needs. Trainers such as Arrage meet with the client's doctor to set up a rehabilitation regimen,

The program can be fine tuned to help anyone from diabetes patients to paraplegics to multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's patients.

For more information about the 50-50 program call Arrage or Kathy Ernst at 548-8020, extension 227.