1 / 4

The Now I Can Foundations helps children with focused physical therapy.

Courtesy Tracey Christensen

2 / 4

Colby Christensen, whose story spurred the creation of the Now I Can Foundation.

Courtesy Tracey Christensen

3 / 4

The Now I Can Foundation provides a variety of physical therapies for children.

Courtesy Tracey Christensen

4 / 4

The Now I Can Foundation helps young children with special physical therapy needs.

Courtesy Tracey Christensen

❮ ❯

When she was just an infant, Colby Christensen was diagnosed with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Doctors said therapy might help her. It did, but her parents had to travel to Poland for the best physical therapy results.

Now, her parents, Joel and Tracey Christensen, have started the Now I Can 501(c)(3) foundation in Orem. The foundation’s new facilities offer a variety of intense therapy modalities for a variety of issues children face. It also offers a place for families to stay.

An open house will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the foundation’s new location, 1950 S. 375 East, Orem. For more information visit nowican.org.

The process of getting to this point really starts with Colby’s story.

“In a couple years I was able to make small changes, but my parents couldn’t help but wonder if maybe there was more,” Colby Christensen said. “They did their homework and when I was 4 years old my mom and dad took me to Poland to try a ‘new’ treatment. The treatment was called the Intensive Model of Therapy — IMOT for short.”

At home in Utah, Colby’s therapy sessions lasted 45 minutes, once a week. Poland was much different.

“The IMOT I received in Poland had me in innovative physical therapy sessions that were three hours long and occurred five days a week,” Colby Christensen said. “The therapy was physically challenging, but it was also fun. The best part was that I could feel and see myself gaining strength fast. In just a few weeks, I had discovered new ways to make my body move. It was so exciting.”

“The results I got using IMOT were too good to ignore. That’s why my mom and dad started an IMOT clinic in Utah to help me — and other kids like me — reach amazing goals that traditional physical therapy would not have allowed,” she added.

“We brought Polish therapists here and started Now I Can to help other families get this effective treatment,” said Tracey Christensen. Families come from all over the country to get PT (physical therapy) at Now I Can. We treat all kinds of physical disabilities and developmental delays, and the progress kids make is life-changing.”

Now I Can stands apart from other physical therapy centers in many ways, including the use of IMOT.

“Our therapists treat patients four hours a day, five days a week for intensive sessions,” Tracey Christensen said. “Now I Can physical therapists design a tailored program for each patient to help them reach their greatest level of independence.”

Over the course of a three-week intensive session, children reach their goals and gain developmental skills as therapists have the needed time to use repetition and all the tools at their disposal to help kids meet their potential.

“It’s very common for patients to make more progress in three weeks of intensive therapy than they do in 12 months of traditional therapy. However, we also accommodate local patients for weekly PT visits,” Tracey Christensen said.

Tracey and Joel Christensen founded the Now I Can Foundation in 2006. Inspired by their daughter, Colby, they wanted to bring the most effective physical therapy to Utah and surrounding states.

Tracey is currently the executive director of Now I Can, and she and Joel serve on the board of directors together. In his day job, Joel is the university budget director at Brigham Young University, but in his spare time he enjoys being active, having fun with family and being Now I Can’s premier handyman.

Joel’s educational background includes majoring in exercise science and a Master of Business Administration degree from BYU. Tracey’s degree is in broadcast news, and she spent many years working in that field and teaching scripture to high school students. She mostly loves being a mom to her now young-adult kids.

“If your child has a neuromuscular disorder like me, you’ve probably spoken to surgeons and watched helplessly as your child went through intervention after intervention,” Colby Christensen said. “When I was small, that’s how it went for me — but introducing intensive physical therapy into my life changed all that. I just kept making progress, which meant I didn’t need as many surgeries and interventions.”

“Instead of spending my time recovering from surgery, or in therapy, I became an active teenager. I made the cheerleading team, I went to football games with friends and walked up and down the bleachers, and I eventually attended college fully able to walk across campus on my own,” she added.

Colby notes that her intensive therapy not only made her body stronger but strengthened her mind as well.

“My therapists have taught me how to be patient with myself and others. They’ve helped retrain my brain to see the positive in every situation, and they’ve helped me understand that it’s not about being the fastest, it’s about simply participating in an experience — which is way better than feeling sorry for yourself and doing nothing at all,” she said. “Sure, it takes me longer to do things — and sometimes I get frustrated — but then I remember to just let the bad thoughts go. This has made a big difference in my life because situations can have a totally different outcome just based on the way you look at it.”

“We are a 501(c)(3) so we accept donations that help keep therapy costs down and we give free and discounted therapy to families without insurance. We bill insurance for families who have it,” Tracey Christensen said.

Now I Can employs physical therapists and physical therapist assistants.

“Our center tries to create a warm environment where parents and families feel comfortable. The new facility can house up to three families at a time. We also plan to incorporate more family support through support groups and social activities as well as instructional opportunities,” Tracey added. “We are so grateful to live in this incredible community where we’ve been loved and supported for all these years. From Eagle Scout projects, church group service, corporate donations and service and more … we feel blessed to be here and we thank the community for helping us celebrate 16 years of serving kids.”