A Lee County business helps heal you from sports injuries and pushing it too far on the racetrack. Apex Physical Therapy is a mom and pop shop with locations in Cape Coral and Iona.
Joe and Angie McGilvrey have a tribe of staff around them. However, one employee does a little more than work on physical pain.
Six-year-old PT is a three-legged dog adopted by the McGilvreys several years ago.
"He started at the shelter as a homeless pet. His name was Petey, like the Little Rascals. We rescued him and went directly to the hospital. We had to take care of his injury. They said, what are you going to name this guy? And we said, we don't know yet," Angie recalled. "Just put Petey, and the veterinarian's office recorded his name as the letters PT and, we were like, oh my gosh, that's his name. His destiny had been decided. He will be a therapy dog. He will be our mascot, and he's just going to change the lives of others."
The vet ended up having to amputate one of PT's back legs. You'd never know by his attitude.
"Oh, he's amazing," Joe said. "If somebody is getting dry needling or using the acupuncture pins, can be a little bit intimidating for a person, a little bit uncomfortable, he kind of senses it. He will go to their table and lay there so that they can pet him."
Outside work, mom, dad and PT like to read to kids. For a while, they read the same book over and over again. Oftentimes, the author would even video call in from the Carolinas to meet the kids.
Fast forward to when that author called the McGilvrey's out of the blue.
"He called us and said, I'm going to read this to you. You guys can do whatever you want with it. It was literally just in, like, typed form. He read it and we were both bawling our eyes out," Angie said.
That typed out story ended up becoming "PT Runs Free," a children's book that now helps rescue organizations right here in southwest Florida.
The trio said this is the message they hope everyone takes from PT and his book.
"Never give up.
That's what we really want to drive [home] each time is that message. No matter what condition you're in, if you're injured or you ever having a bad situation at home, whatever it is like, just never give up," Joe said.