For a month and a half, Susan Riddle couldn’t remember anything. Now she has her rhythm back. After barely surviving a serious car accident, Susan was left with no memory. Family and friends urged her admission to Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital. During her time in the Brain Injury Program, Susan started at square one, learning how to swallow, how to brush her teeth, and other things we take for granted. After more than a month of therapy, her memories finally returned. Today, Susan is getting back into the tempo of her life, building new memories and playing in the church band.
Kyle Tobaison was driving home from a concert on a February evening. No one knows if bad weather or falling asleep at the wheel was the cause, but his car rolled over twice and, because he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt, Kyle was thrown out into the road. “A truck driver found me lying there,” says Kyle.
Or so he was told. The thing is, Kyle can’t remember anything about his car accident. He also can’t remember spending 13 days in critical ICU, 8 of them in a coma due to blood in his brain. What he can remember is waking up at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital.
Kyle’s family chose to have him admitted to the Brain Injury Program because they knew he’d receive the most comprehensive care available in the region. “I couldn’t walk when I was admitted,” he explains. “And I had a lot of memory problems.” The rehabilitation team worked with Kyle to provide specialized care that focused on helping him regain his speech and mental functions as well as his mobility.
Although recovering from a traumatic accident requires a lot of hard work and commitment from the patient, “the nursing staff and therapists made the experience a lot of fun,” says Kyle. “I was totally motivated.” So motivated that he was released a month later to continue his treatment on an outpatient basis.
Today Kyle is ready to go back to work. “They tell you that someone who suffered the injuries that I did can expect to return to work in a year and a half,” he says. “It’s only been ten months.” Thanks to the dedicated experts at Mary Free Bed, Kyle’s recovering faster than anyone ever imagined.