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Courage
“She was very calm through the whole thing, just took it in stride. I never saw her panic; she had amazing composure,” he said. “She never complained about pain, or about the surgery. She would admit she had pain but never cried about it or whined about it. She seemed very mature to me. There never was a ‘woe is me’ moment that I ever saw.” stubbornness, honed by years as an athlete, helped “Everybody called me a superstar. I liked that, and her rehab therapists push her further every day. it got me out of a bad mood whenever I was in one,” Brooke said. Sure enough, just after two months of On Day 14, according to her dad’s meticulous log, hard work at Craig Hospital, she left there walking. she was flown to Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado. Kalispell’s rehab doctors could help at home, That was Nov. 1. She returned to her senior year but her age was a big factor. It was unlikely other at Whitefish High School on Nov. 25. On June 21, teenagers would be around during her rehabilita- 2014, she completed her first post-surgery 5K tion in Kalispell; she easily could feel isolated. event, finishing the Whitefish Lake Run in 1 hour and 16 minutes. She and her family moved to Flori“There’s a big psychological component,” da over the summer, where she shaved 10 minutes Dr. Sramek said. “One of the thoughts in off her finish time in another 5K in October. Brooke sending her to Craig – it’s one of the best spi- now is enrolled in St. Petersburg College, preparnal cord rehab centers in the country – she ing for a career in physical therapy. She’s still would be around other people her age, she working to regain strength, endurance and fine motor control, but “at this point I’m pretty much would get that psychological boost.” independent,” Brooke reported. And she did. She connected with other patients her age. She forged a bond with the therapists, many Unflagging support from her family and friends not much older than she, and drew encourage- kept up her spirits and “started me off on my jourment from their spunkiness. She knew doctors had ney; they were always happy and they made me planned to prepare her for severely limited mobil- happy,” Brooke said. “But I think I pushed myself ity, but she never forgot the therapist who prom- through it. I got this far because of me and the mindset I have. I’ve been stubborn my entire life.” ised her she would leave Craig walking.
Dr. Sramek has seen similar cases, but this level of success is unprecedented in his experience.
“My hope was that we could stabilize her and get her functioning so she could feed herself and things like that. Never in my wildest dreams did I think she’d be walking as well as she is now,” he said. And her courage was remarkable. “She was very calm through the whole thing, just took it in stride. I never saw her panic; she had amazing composure,” he said. “She never complained about pain, or about the surgery. She would admit she had pain but never cried about it or whined about it. She seemed very mature to me. There never was a ‘woe is me’ moment that I ever saw.” Brooke would share the credit for that one.
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“I wasn’t alone, definitely,” she said. “I had a lot of people rooting for me.”
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