DISABLED REALTORS -- part 7

Overcoming the Odds and Getting the Job Done Martin’s recuperation lasted a year and a half. She used a wheelchair for a year, then a walker. She now walks unaided, though stairs are difficult. Other residual effects include a bulging disc and pressed nerves in her back, numbness down her arms and legs and chronic pain. She also has nerve damage on the left side of her face. Additionally, Martin has had to go through cognitive retraining. Before the accident she was a private investigator with her own security company. But the work was sometimes dangerous, and as a single mother, Martin began to re-think her career path. “Life is too short,” she said. In 2002, she became a Realtor, selling both residential and commercial. She had always loved working around properties – her father had built and owned apartments when she was growing up – plus, she had experience in insurance and marketing. It seemed like a natural next step for her, career-wise. Martin also has a job doing property management for a company that oversees five developments totaling 600 homes. She enjoys the property management work, but laughingly says of it: “The only time people talk to you is when they have problems.”