When Brianna Todd arrived at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals following a car accident, she had a clear goal in mind. She was going to walk again. But at the beginning of her rehabilitation journey, walking was far from easy.
“I was unable to move my legs for the most part,” Brianna said. “I could wiggle my toes. I could stand only with the support of a lift machine for just a few minutes. I wasn’t able to transfer out of bed by myself or get dressed.”
Brianna sustained an incomplete spinal cord injury in the May 6 accident. As she began rehabilitation, she knew reaching her goals would take work, and she was ready to put it in.
“When I first met Brianna, she had goals for herself right off the bat,” Michala Hueber, PT, DPT, Brianna’s inpatient physical therapist, said. “She always told me from the get-go, ‘I’m going to walk out of here.’”
That determination quickly became evident in therapy.
“She always asked, ‘What else can we be doing? What can I do on my own? How can I make this harder?’” Hueber said.
Brianna worked on strength, balance, coordination and stepping, using specialized equipment and technology like the LiteGait bodyweight support system and SoloStep harness to help her build the skills needed for walking. She responded well to the challenges her therapists presented, continually pushing herself to do more. Her progress followed.
“We were able to get her to do transfers with the walker and then we even challenged her with walking outside of her walker,” Hueber said.
Brianna eventually transitioned to Madonna’s Rehabilitation Day program for outpatient therapy, where her goals expanded beyond walking. She wanted to maximize her independence.
“She’s now working on returning to driving and getting back to work,” Tina Meier, PT, DPT, Brianna’s outpatient physical therapist, said. “Getting back to work is a big thing for her.”
In occupational therapy, Brianna has been working to rebuild her confidence behind the wheel using Madonna’s driving simulator. Every small victory is a step towards returning to normal.
The road forward has continued to require patience and hard work, but Brianna’s approach hasn’t changed.
“She’s just a really hard worker and tries her best and I think she’ll make really good progress in the future,” Meier said.
For Brianna, determination has meant staying focused even when progress is difficult to see.
“I’m most proud of my positivity and determination throughout this journey,” she said. “Even on the hard days, I was putting in effort and finding reasons to smile and laugh.”
And when she reaches one goal, Brianna doesn’t stop there.
“When she accomplished one goal, she made herself have another goal,” Hueber said.
For Brianna, the work continues, one goal and one step at a time.