Sonia was thrilled to embark on a “lifetime-dream-of-a-trip” to Ghana. Soon after arriving overwhelming fatigue and a mounting fever overtook her, the first signs of a fast-moving and rare autoimmune disease wreaking damage on her nervous system.
Within hours, Sonia’s body became paralyzed from her bottom up and she stopped breathing. Efforts to intubate her with a locked jaw caused extensive damage that would leave her in excruciating pain for months to come.
Sonia was diagnosed with ADEM, a disease similar to Guillain Barré syndrome that attacks the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. Sonia lay in the ICU for ten days, paralyzed from head to toe, able to move only her eyes.
Once stabilized, she was flown back to the US and remained at Yale ICU for a month. Her husband began researching long-term rehabilitation hospitals in preparation for her discharge. Gaylord came out on top, she said, because it was one of the very few willing to admit her on a ventilator and had on-campus family guest facilities for her out-of-area parents.
Sonia was grateful to never have to spend a night alone at Gaylord and claims that having family near made all the difference in her recovery. She also was impressed with Gaylord’s patient-focused approach to caring for the whole person.
“When I first came to Gaylord, they greeted me not like just any other patient, but as a person who needed to get better,” she commented.
“Gaylord has been such a great place, I didn’t want to leave,” she said. “But I’m feeling empowered and ready to get back to my regular life.”