T.J. Barlow’s life was changed in an instant

Editor’s Note: Second in a three-part series.

ALBANY — You’d forgive T.J. Barlow any moment of doubt or self-pity if you listened to his story.

Barlow, an Albany businessman and massage therapist, has made a remarkable recovery from a 2014 wreck that left him with only one leg and with injuries to his back, his other leg and his head that required major surgeries to repair.

Of course, there was also the time he almost died when, as an 11-year-old, he was thrown from a car. And there was the time his house burned down around him and the time he was robbed and forced to move into a house with no heating or cooling. And, after the 2014 wreck in which 20 units of blood were utilized in the ambulance on the way to the emergency room just to keep him alive, constant pain, temporary paralysis, neuropathy. Throw in periods of homelessness, bouts of depression that led to thoughts of suicide, and harassment by the Social Security Administration, which said he not only wasn’t “disabled,” he owed them $25,000 for money he’d been granted after his injuries … and, well, you can see how Barlow might think some force in the universe was out to get him.

All of which makes the businessman’s emergence as one of the most sought-after massage therapists in southwest Georgia and the success of Soothe Holistic Wellness Lounge nothing short of a miracle.

“I have to say, all my life I’ve been dealt a sh — ty hand,” Barlow said in a frank conversation. “For whatever reason, it seems like I’ve gotten the short end of the stick. But what I’ve always managed to do is take the hand I’ve been dealt and make do with it.”

Barlow has a prosthesis on his right leg now, one that “doesn’t really fit all that great,” and it often leaves him in such pain he has to remove it and use crutches. He’s got massive scars on his left leg, metal plates in his head and a series of scars on his back from when doctors fused his L3, L4, and L5 vertebrae in a successful effort to alleviate pain that was all but unbearable.

And while he’s found unbelievable physical strength through jui jitsu and a personal workout regimen, inner peace through his connection with nature and the divine, and a sense of purpose through his 4-year-old son Anthony, Barlow’s life will forever be influenced by the one-car accident nine years ago that placed him in a nightmare that will never quite go away.

“All I remember,” Barlow said, “was thinking that I was hungry after a night out with some friends and then waking up in an ambulance with EMTs trying to save my life. It’s weird; I lost the things that led up to me going out to get some food and the circumstances surrounding the wreck, but I remember vividly being in the ambulance and giving EMTs information and telling them who to call. I had enough presence of mind to tell them I wanted Sydney Parr as my nurse.”

It was friends like veterinarian Dr. Jimmy Lee and physical therapist Glenn Hamby who encouraged Barlow to get involved in the jiu jitsu marshal art that allowed him to regain mobility and strength in his damaged body.

“They talked to me very frankly about my condition,” Barlow said. “Dr. Lee sat me down and talked with me and told me ‘I can take a dying animal and save it, and Glenn can rehab a human body. Now, what can you do?

“I had friends who were into massage therapy talk to me about that discipline, and that opened the door to something that turned out to be an important part of my life. I started (studying massage therapy) because I wanted to understand my pain and what I could do about it. I put in more than 900 hours of study — about anatomy, kinesiology, physiology — and started to get a better understanding. I started working part-time with (chiropractor) Dr. David Wren, and after a while some of my customers told me I could do this on my own. The wheels started turning.”

Now, Barlow and partner Tyler Johnson offer massage therapy, meditation, float therapy and other mind/body techniques designed to help others find answers to some of the physical and emotional issues that plague them.

“One thing I have, with all that’s gone wrong in my life, is that I have that to look back on,” Barlow said. “I can reference that, compare now to then, remember the emotion, the pain, the anxiety, the stress. That’s a lot of what’s allowed me to keep moving forward, to see myself as someone who’s did what he had to do.”

Part III: Getting down to business.

Special Photo: T.J. BarlowSpecial Photo: T.J. Barlow