Exercise saved a Norfolk woman

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - A Norfolk senior paralyzed after falling and breaking her neck exercised her way back to doing the things she loves.

The Tuesday morning class at Primeplus Senior Center Norfolk is always packed. They call it "Too Fit to Quit", and Gene Jones is just that.

Three years ago she had a terrible accident at her home on Willoughby Bay.

"I was hanging up a hammock on the waterside, and I guess I hadn't fastened it, so when I got in I flipped over backwards and I landed on my head in the water, face down and I couldn't move," she said.

The fall broke her neck. Doctors told the artist she would never paint or play piano again.

"I thought 'Oh that sounds too awful.' Soon as I came home, I got out of the wheelchair and sat down at the piano," she said.

Her fingers barely struck a chord at first.

Six months of therapy helped, but Jones say she really hit a high note in the weekly exercise classes.

The weights helped rebuild her body, but, she says, the people rejuvenated her soul.

"Everybody is helpful and 'Oh, you're doing great,' so it motivates you to enjoy it. It's kind of candy-coated exercise that keeps you coming back," she said.

Alberta Smith feels the same way. She ditched arthritis pills after discovering the healing power of exercise on her bad knee.

"As the good Lord said, once a man, twice a child. You don't understand that until you get old, you got to do just what a kid do...move around constantly, you just got to do it," Smith said.

She is doing it more slowly now, but there is no stopping Gene Jones.

"There's still some fun things to do," she says. And she's too fit to quit.

Jones's art work will be part of the 20th annual Senior Arts Fest , which runs from May 10-28 at Primeplus Senior Center, 7300 Newport Ave., Norfolk.

There are four kinds of exercise, according Medline Plus , and seniors need to get some of each.

They include:

• Endurance activities--like walking, swimming, or riding a bike-- which improves heart health.
• Strengthening exercises which build muscle tissue and reduce age-related muscle loss
• Stretching exercises to keep the body limber and flexible
• Balance exercises to reduce the chances of a fall