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000000 It's Hard To Stop A Trane. FURNACE TUNE-UP AND SAFETY CHECK t )FBU&YDIBOHF&YBNJOBUJPO t $POUSPMT5FTUFE t .PUPS0JMFE$IFDLFE $ 79 OR Get a Yearly Maintenance Agreement $ 15/mo. SAVE UP TO 30% ON YOUR ELECTRIC BILLS! t 'JMUFS$IFDL t )VNJEJåFS$IFDL t 5IFSNPTUBU$IFDL for as low as NEW CUSTOMER SPECIAL $ 25 OFF Any Service Call with Repair Steven Bez Co-Owner Laurie Sherman Comfort Specialist $ 500 off Select Trane Equipment Celebrating 20 Years 517.545.8640 I www.woodtailor.com Visit Our Gorgeous Online Showroom Today I Senior Discounts! Custom Fine Furn, ure, Tailored For You 26 December 14 • 2017 jn J eff Ellis is hoping the third time will be the proverbial charm for him. He qualified for the Amateur American Powerlifting Federation national meet the past two years, but twice he couldn't compete because of an injury. He hurt his right shoul- der in 2016 and was side- lined for three months, knocking him out of the 2016 nationals. Then he suffered a torn triceps tendon in his right arm in March, preventing him from participating in the 2017 nationals. The 58-year-old West Bloomfield resident and certified public accountant has qualified for the nationals again. The 2018 event will be April 19-22 in Grand Rapids. "I'm crossing my fingers," Ellis said. "I don't have anything else planned for that weekend and tax season will be over." Ellis' latest attempt at getting to the nationals has been aided by an emerging sports medicine tech- nology called PRP, or platelet-rich plasma therapy. PRP made headlines in 2009 when Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers received the therapy before the Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII, beating the Arizona Cardinals. Tiger Woods received PRP treat- ments after undergoing knee surgery, and ageless major league pitcher Bartolo Colon is another PRP patient. Looking at a minimum nine- month healing process for his torn triceps tendon if he didn't undergo surgery, Ellis opted for PRP on the advice of his physical therapist, and he had it done in mid-April. The procedure begins with the collection of 30 millimeters of blood from the patient. The blood is placed in a centrifuge to separate platelet-rich plasma, then the con- centrated platelets are injected into the site of the injury. Platelets are a reservoir for growth factors that are needed for the repair of injured tissues. "My doctor didn't make any guar- antees, and my insurance company considered PRP an experimental procedure; but for me, it worked like a charm," Ellis said. "I started lifting weights again about two months after I had the therapy, and I was going full speed in another month. "I was optimistic the therapy would work, but in the back of my mind, I thought I might be sidelined for quite a while." Ellis said he did a lot of reading before going ahead with the therapy. Interestingly, one of the case studies he read was about a 53-year-old competitive weightlifter and CPA who had suffered a torn tendon. After missing the 2017 AAPF nationals in May, Ellis com- peted in the Michigan Senior Olympics Summer Games in August. He won his 13th Senior Olympics gold medal in eight years, capturing the men's age 55-59 198-pound divi- sion title with a bench press of 270 pounds. That was below his usual stan- dards — his winning bench press at the Michigan Senior Olympics Winter Games in February was 300 pounds — but Ellis was satisfied. "I was back; I was pain-free, and I was making progress," he said. Next for Ellis was the AAPF Michigan Holiday Push-Pull Meet on Saturday in Royal Oak. He won again in his age and weight division and qualified for nationals. Ellis tied his AAPF state record for the age and weight division with a bench press of 290 pounds. He then bench-pressed 295 pounds, but he was disqualified because he didn't wait long enough for the judge to give him the sign to lift. "If I had just waited a fraction of a second longer … " Ellis said. Ellis said he feels as strong as he's felt since he picked up weightlifting again in his middle ages. He offered some words of encour- agement for athletes dealing with an injury. "Don't get down on yourself. Be optimistic," he said. "I had a few people tell me after I suffered the torn triceps that I've had a good run with competitive weightlifting, but maybe I should give it up. All that did was make me want to get back to the gym. "Even when I couldn't lift, I could still do my cardio work." • Send sports news to stevestein502004@ yahoo.com. Platelet Therapy Is Powerful Stuff Jeff Ellis STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER sports