Craig Hospital Foundation

This Colorado Gives Day, your impact will DOUBLE. 

Power hope and homecomings for patients like Wendy, rebuilding after the unexpected.

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Today, Wendy is footloose and full of life. She enjoys retirement, traveling, and new opportunities that come her way. But as Wendy knows well, anyone’s world can change in just an instant, often without any clear explanation. Just two years earlier, Wendy was rushed to the ER with excruciating pain. At the time, she and her husband, Jim, were unaware of the journey that lay ahead.

After countless tests and a rapid increase of paralysis traveling up her body, it was later determined that Wendy had a rare condition called Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). GBS is a condition in which the body’s autoimmune response attacks the peripheral nervous system. It is characterized by a rapid onset of numbness, weakness and paralysis in the breathing and core muscles, legs, arms and face. Wendy soon went into respiratory failure. As a result, she spent the next 6 weeks in a heavily medicated state, which fortunately helped the extreme pain she was in, though it also affected her memory. 

“I was close to dying multiple times but had no recollection of it during the early weeks in the ICU,” she says.

Alive but still unable to function on her own, Wendy was transferred to Craig by ambulance, where her healing journey began. In those first days at Craig, a care team paraded into Wendy’s room. “I didn’t realize the significance of it all at the time,” says Wendy. “It takes a tribe to support you with something like what I have. The Craig care team offered so many different aspects of healing, and I think that’s wonderful.” Within just a few days of her arrival, Wendy was being fitted for a power wheelchair. “It was a game changer to be able to get out of bed,” says Wendy.

Wendy’s path to rehabilitation was challenging, especially with the extreme pain that GBS causes. Her team approached her discomfort with care, providing individualized solutions like covering her feet in towels before she showered to mitigate the sting of the water droplets on her skin. Wendy also recalls Craig’s amazing therapy dogs, like Hercules, who offered a tremendous amount of comfort on the more difficult days.

If there was anything Wendy knew for certain, it’s that she was determined to conquer the symptoms of GBS and walk out of Craig. To achieve her goals, Wendy participated in many of Craig’s life-changing programs; she knew there were many basic functions she would need to re-learn, such as cooking and driving. She also participated in Horticultural Therapy, which improved her hand and finger mobility. “Recreational Therapy was such a nice diversion from pain, misery, and sickness. To be handed a paintbrush or play in the dirt. It was a healthy redirection.”

In November of 2023, Wendy walked out of Craig. 

Although approximately 70% of people with Guillain-Barré Syndrome recover, there is still no known cure for GBS. This doesn’t stop Wendy. She still deals with occasional discomfort and neuropathy in her feet, but overall, Wendy feels great. Wendy and Jim currently travel frequently between Colorado and Florida. Wendy is also a strong advocate in the Guillain-Barré community and has built many lifelong friendships along the way. And today, when Wendy walks along the beach in Florida, she thinks back to her amazing care at Craig when she realizes it no longer hurts to have her bare feet in the sand.

Give today or by December 9 to provide more people like Wendy with life-changing rehabilitative care, and more hope for a bright future. Double your impact and help us reach Betsy’s Bold Challenge of $500,000 before the end of the year by boldly supporting Craig’s Hope & Homecomings Campaign.

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