Do you believe in fate?

One day, a lady arrived in our office having been told about Dr Glenn by her Hermes delivery driver.

Flicking through the SY1 magazine on our shelves whilst waiting for her appointment, she noticed that our SFC logo in an advert was of too low a quality to print properly and offered to recreate it for us so it would not look pixelated in future promotions and signage.

With this gesture, Shrewsbury Family Chiropractic family had a reprographics designer. A brief insight into her story is featured here.

Hello, my name is Tracey Swain. I have been involved in photography and photographic printing since I was about ten and litho printing since my early thirties. I spent my life working in photography, advertising and media for anything and everything from record labels to law. I have produced artwork for the likes of The Really Useful Theatre Company (Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber), Lord Rothschild, Harrods, Harvey Nicholls and Lexis Nexis Law to name a few.

I was crushed in a car accident when I was 4 years old, which left issues with my lower spine, but none of which troubled me until the fused area broke open in my mid-20s. Luckily for me, I found a fantastic chiropractic clinic in Kent, where I then lived, which got me back walking and kept me in alignment. My career was not affected in any way and I continued with my work. I utterly adored my life and lived for my job.

A fateful day in October 2006 saw me slipping on oil at work and had me cannoning at speed into a 2 tonne printing press of solid metal, leaving irreparable damage. Life-changing injuries to my neck, shoulder, arm and lower back, a minor brain bleed from a blow to the head and a loss of consciousness that went unnoticed, left me without my photographic memory and with great chunks of memory gone. I had to relearn to talk, walk, read and write. I still struggle with reading long books and writing and I may never regain these skills. I was left with fibromyalgia, metabolic syndrome, chronic fatigue and several cognitive issues due to the blow to my head, as well as back, neck and sciatica issues.

My career was finished; life as I knew and loved it was over.

I had been working for a friend on a calendar for a charity that he was CEO of in early 2006, so with his help I got back on my feet – I wouldn’t have made it without him. Thanks to his kindness, I was given a retainer for reprographic design work from his charity so I still had an income coming in. My life was exceptionally worrying for a while as I tried to relearn things and get back on my feet. I had no idea on how bad things were going to be for me health-wise.

In February 2007 I found myself in Ludlow looking for a particular shot of a castle on a hill above quaint cottages – a shot I have since found the location of in Dunster. (I still need to go back and capture it!) Weirdly, I had dreamed of this place for ages and ages with no idea if it actually existed! However, I found it on the way home from a trip to Cornwall after visiting great friends on a book-selling trip for my five published books. I had visited these same friends in the summer of 2006 and had been inspired to take some shots of Fire Dancers on Fristral Beach. Who knew, that nearly 10 years later, these shots would become the cover of my very own ‘Elemental Tangents’ book and CD.

Anyway, I am going off on a Tangent (yes, ‘Tangent’ is my nickname)! Having been in Shropshire for 3 days, I decided I loved it so much that I was going to move here and 4 weeks later I had. Spur of the moment is very achievable in my world! Our Shirelands are truly a very magical place; the veil is thin, there is magic in the air everywhere and the elements change on the whim of Mother Nature, but oh, the light when it is right!

In 2008, I went cold turkey off all my pain medication. I had been on a mammoth amount! I decided holistic healing was the way – working with myself out in Mother Nature, making my body and mind heal with the help of creativity and the magic around me.

I spent my days out and about with my camera, trying to get my body working, my cognitive behaviour back up, rediscovering a passion I had not had time for when working in the high pressures of print and advertising in London…and a concept of a childhood dream began to form. I shot 1000s of landscapes and I sold a select few alongside my charity reprographic design work. In November 2011 I asked a local lady if she would be interested in writing poetry to go with photographic images of the local landscape. Hilary jumped at the idea and so Briar Ridge Books was created, and by March 2012 our first book, ‘The Wicked Wood: Part one of The Journey’, was in print. Closely following this was ‘Shirelands’ and ‘The Faerie Glenn: Part Two of The Journey’. To create a trilogy instead of our original 6-book journey Hilary re-wrote ‘The Crystal Lake: Part Three of the Journey’. Whilst this was happening I had an epiphany one day and after discussing it with a musician friend, Stephen, ‘Elemental Tangents’ book and CD were born.

Through all these years I had tried many different chiropractors in the Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Leominster and even Manchester area, a Bowen therapist, a cranial osteopath, a normal osteopath and numerous forms of physiotherapy. Nothing with any success. I sadly found that many folk in the world of osteopathy and chiropractic think cracks and hard manipulation are what it is all about. Whilst that works for some, it truly does not work for anyone suffering with the spinal and chronic health conditions that I have to live with 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. I needed someone with as much attention to detail, perfectionism and a passion for always advancing with learning new techniques as I had seen back in Kent. I was beginning to despair that this would not be possible, that I would spend a lifetime suffering.

Finally, I found a kinesiologist and was also having acupuncture to try and ease pain. BUT! I needed a chiropractor to truly help me cope. Then came the miraculous day in March 2017 when my Hermes driver, whilst dropping off some photographic prints, told me all about this wonderful chiropractic specialist by the name of Glenn Fredericksen.

I gave that guy a bottle of red on his next visit for truly he has saved my soul. When you live in pain and are not taking pain meds, you need someone to understand, to go easy, to believe you, to really feel you, to bother to get to know you and your history and to work with you on getting your body back to something remotely close to being 100%. I truly thank the stars the day I discovered Shrewsbury Family Chiropractic and I have loved working with them to create promotional design and their wonderful newsletter.

My memory is shot and I still have very major issues to cope with. I have good days, dark days, active days, then days I cannot stand up. Surprisingly, a life changing accident gave me the chance to move out of a career I adored into publishing my own books – something I would never ever have done if I had still been pulling 60+ hour weeks in a cut-throat, pressured and competitive industry. The excellence that was demanded of me during that time now makes me expect the same of others that I work with in all areas of life. With your health, that is paramount; after all, it is your body and you will be in it a very long time. You have to take excellent care of it!

With Glenn, Ros and the team at Shrewsbury Family Chiropractic, I have found a family full of very wonderful people who all go above and beyond to make sure everything that they do for you is right, every visit a treat.

I truly bless the day they came into my life; I would not be able to cope without their help. I would I now be suffering far worse than I do without Glenn. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Tracey Swain

If you are interested in Tracey’s books or if she could help your business with design work, get in touch with her on tracey.swain@gmail.com. As you can see, her work on our newsletter is outstanding and she is incredibly prompt with communications and work-completion. Thank you, Tracey!