Healthy living is not just about the physical. Mykel Dicus found that out after he was the victim of a hate crime in 2010, targeted because he is gay.
Dicus was hospitalized for three weeks. Long after his serious injuries healed, he wrestled with the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
"Being a victim of an assault, a hate crime, rape, whatever it is, does have a mental impact and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is no joke,” Dicus says. “People like me go and exercise the demons."
In an effort to heal, Mykel created a one-man show that he now performs at colleges around the country.
He wants to help those who have been victimized emerge as stronger, healthier versions of their former selves.
His search for inner peace also led him to a New York Sports Clubs boxing class that NYSC Master Trainer Abdel Saez and his son Joshua have run for more than 20 years. He says boxing not only makes him physically stronger, but also gives him confidence.
"Where I am now from four years ago is night and day,” he says. “I feel like I battled PTSD, I'm managing it. The boxing is amazing. Telling my story through my show has me just keep it out of me."
Saez says boxing is one of the most physically and mentally challenging sports and he has seen what it's done for Mykel.
"As I got to know him I just saw him like, swell with confidence, just like, just his being. He's just, he's a special guy,” Abdel Saez says.
"In the beginning, he was very timid, very kind of pensive, and then now since he's been with us a while he's opened up, he's blossomed,” Joshua Saez says.
In the same boxing class that has helped restore Mykel is a woman who has lost 200 pounds since she started boxing. Check back on NY1.com for her story in the next installment of Healthy Living.