Two canes and a leg brace.

That’s what Joan Baldiga needed to help her walk in July 2014 when she started her therapy sessions at Banbury Cross Therapeutic Equestrian Center in Metamora Township.

These days, the 49-year-old Addison Township resident is not only walking without any assistance, she’s downhill skiing, mountain biking and swimming.

“I do walk with a limp, but I am doing those things,” she said.

Baldiga gives a good deal of credit for her recovery to her once-a-week riding sessions at Banbury Cross.

“It’s been miraculous for me,” she said. “I’ve sung their praises to everybody I possibly can.”

Her tremendous progress has so impressed the folks at Banbury Cross that they named Baldiga as this year’s adult Star Student Rider.

She will be honored Saturday, May 6 during the 27th Annual Derby Day Celebration on the equestrian center’s grounds located at 1223 Brauer Rd. It begins at 5 p.m.

“(Over) the course of the last few years, Joan has regained strength and balance,” said Banbury Cross Executive Director Jessica Moore. “She has moved on to more challenging horses and is independently riding introductory dressage patterns without the help of anyone . . . She is an amazing inspiration.”

“I feel very special,” Baldiga said. “To be chosen as someone they would like to highlight, it makes me feel very good. I certainly feel a sense of accomplishment and a strong sense of connection to this community.”

The Derby Day Celebration is an upscale fund-raising event for Banbury Cross.

It annually draws between 200 and 300 stylishly-dressed ladies and dapperly-attired gentlemen who come to watch the Kentucky Derby on a big screen and donate generously to the equestrian center.

This year’s event will include live and silent auctions, a plant sale, raffle, chances to wager on the Kentucky Derby, cocktails and dinner.

Tickets for the Derby Day Celebration range from $125 to $275 per person. For more information, visit www.banburycrosstec.org.

Fund-raising is critical to Banbury Cross because it costs more than $30,000 annually to care for its 13 horses.

Founded in 1991, Banbury Cross is well-known and respected for using horseback riding to help students with physical and cognitive disabilities grow emotionally and socially while improving their overall physical fitness.

Baldiga, who teaches French at Malow Jr. High School in Shelby Township and has been with the Utica school district since 1993, incorporated Banbury Cross into her therapy regimen following surgery to treat her brain arteriovenous malformation (AVM).

In addition to Banbury, she also works with HealthQuest Physical Therapy in Oxford and chiropractor Dr. Mark Prather, of Rochester Hills Spine Care.

A cerebral AVM is a tangle of blood vessels either in the brain or on its surface that diverts blood directly from the arteries to the veins, bypassing normal brain tissue, according to the American Stroke Association. This abnormal connection interferes with the critical process of arteries transporting oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the brain and veins sending the oxygen-depleted blood back to the lungs and heart.

Brain AVMs occur in less than 1 percent of the general population, according to the American Stroke Association. They are more common in men than women and usually, people are born with them.

Symptoms include an intracranial hemorrhage, seizures, localized pain in the head and difficulty with movement, speech and vision, according to the American Stroke Association.

Baldiga’s brain AVM was discovered in June 2012. A 14-year breast cancer survivor, she was undergoing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of her brain for a different issue when the AVM was found.

“Mine is about 2 centimeters in diameter and it’s located in my left parietal lobe,” Baldiga said.

Prior to its discovery, she had not experienced any symptoms.

“That was something unusual because most people who suffer from AVM experience symptoms in their teens and in their 20s. Mine had gone undetected,” Baldiga explained.

In April 2013, she underwent stereotactic radiosurgery with a CyberKnife to eradicate the AVM. Despite its name, it’s not a surgical procedure. It’s actually a form of radiation therapy in which high-power energy is focused on a small area of the body.

“I’ve had many brain MRIs and they all indicate that it took care of (the AVM), that it obliterated it,” Baldiga said. “That information will be confirmed with a cerebral angiogram (one year from now).”

But the surgery left her with a weakness on her right side that mostly affects her entire right leg. Her balance and strength were compromised.

Two months prior to starting sessions at Banbury Cross, Baldiga developed cerebral edema, a swelling in the brain caused by the accumulation of excess fluid. This left her completely paralyzed on the right side of her body.

Oxford resident Monique Robbins, a friend who has Muscular Dystrophy and rides at Banbury Cross, visited Baldiga in the hospital and encouraged her to give the equestrian center a try to help regain what she had lost.

She’s glad she did because it’s working.

In August 2014, Baldiga was able to get rid of her leg brace. She stopped using her canes in January 2015.

“I believe the horse is actually teaching me how to walk,” she noted. “That’s basically what I’m doing is I’m relearning how to walk. My brain lost that ability.”

Baldiga believes the “rhythmic movement” of riding the horse has helped increase the communication between her brain and leg.

“Every time I ride, when I get off that horse, I’m walking a little bit better,” she said. “My gait is not 100 percent. If I had to put a percentage on it, I’d say maybe 85 percent.”

Overall, Baldiga is extremely pleased with the help she’s received at Banbury Cross.

“There is no doubt in my mind that it has had a very positive physical benefit for me,” she said. “It’s helped me improve my core strength and all of my weak muscles in my right leg. It has helped me to improve my range of motion and my sense of balance.”

Her progress has “astonished” her doctors.

“They told me that most people would have plateaued after two years (following the surgery) and here after four years, I’m still gaining strength,” she said.

Baldiga believes her “hope for a full recovery” lies with a concept called neuroplasticity, which is the capacity of the brain to develop and change, or reorganize itself, by forming new neural connections throughout life. She believes horseback riding, combined with her other physical recreational activities, “encourages neuroplasticity.”

She said a lot of people, even medical professionals, believe there’s a point where someone with a brain injury is not going to make any more progress.

“The latest research in brain development (and) brain recovery says (that’s) not true – that at any stage of the game, we can experience recovery,” Baldiga said.

Baldiga can’t say enough good things about Banbury Cross. She’s complimentary of every aspect.

“It’s a very relaxed environment where therapy meets recreation,” she said. “For me, that’s been very therapeutic on so many levels. To be able to connect with the animal is very emotionally and spiritually therapeutic.”

Banbury Cross has “a very special group of horses,” all of which “have stories of their own,” according to Baldiga.

“It’s very easy to connect with them,” she said.

Currently, Baldiga is riding a horse named Doodle Bug.

“Doodle is a more challenging horse. He’s very energetic. He’s very peppy. He’s very enthusiastic,” she explained. “I’m pleased that I’ve reached a level where they feel that I’m ready to ride Doodle.”

“At every stage of the game, they’ve always been able to provide me with the horse that meets my skill level and my needs,” Baldiga noted.

But it’s not just the horses that make Banbury Cross so special and successful.

“The (staff is) fabulous,” Baldiga said. “Their expertise, their love for people, their experience with the animals – they’re just really wonderful people to be around.”