Woman seeks to create recreation center for people with disabilities

CHICAGO (WLS) -- She has faced setback after setback, challenge after challenge and yet she still keeps fighting. Meet a woman who is using her own obstacles as motivation to help others.

"Determination" is a word that defines Elana Newkirk and her workout philosophy. She lost both of her feet and lower legs, but she still wants to stay strong mentally and physically.

"Your life's not over," Newkirk said. "You just have to know how to adapt to it."

Newkirk is used to challenges. She was born with spina bifida, which always affected her ability to walk.

"To best describe it, I walked like a penguin with knees, because I did the waddle and that was because of the spina bifida and how it affects your mobility," Newkirk said. "I used crutches only while I was in college to get me to classes faster. The same in high school. Other than that, I walked on my own."

But in 1991 everything changed. Newkirk lost her left foot because of circulation problems. Then three years later, a drunk driver took away the right foot.

"The first one when I lost the left, I still had the right one to lean on which was ok," Newkirk said. "When I lost the right one, you have that feeling that your foot is still there. So when you get up in the morning you end up on the floor more times than anything else, because you forget at six in the morning or four in the morning and you wake up, 'Oh crap!'"

After 56 surgeries and 176 hospitalizations, this former police and 911 dispatcher found it difficult to maintain a fitness regime. Most ordinary gyms often weren't equipped to provide for her needs.

"I said, 'There's got to be a better way. You can't do this. You can't let an amputation stop me from doing what I had wanted to do before. I'm not going to let the drunk driver that hit me stop me from walking, because then they win.'"

So Newkirk started her own company, No Excuses Adapted Fitness. Now she's hoping to build a fitness and recreation center in the northwest suburbs especially designed for people with disabilities. She envisions trainers using specialized workout equipment.

"My thought is, what I want to do with ellipticals and the treadmills is to have the grab-bars that you have or parallel bars that you have at rehab centers and physical therapy," Newkirk said. "Have them wrap around so that the person using the machine has something to hang onto and help them get off."

While it's mostly on the drawing board now, Newkirk is meeting with elected officials, other non-profits as well as veterans groups, hoping to move forward on her dream project.

But she's battled spina bifida, lupus and two amputations, so don't bet against this 46-year-old who was once told she'd never leave a wheelchair.

"I fought for that! Guess what? I'm working it," she said.

Newkirk hopes to model her No Excuses Adaptive Fitness Center after a similar facility that has been very successful in Phoenix. Her moto is, "Physical disabilities don't have to make you handicapped." That's the way she lives her life.

For more information, contact Newkirk at 219-902-3014.