From Minnesota to Madonna
After a life-altering injury, recovery is a journey no one takes alone. For Justin Kube, that journey included not only an interdisciplinary care team at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals, but also the unwavering support of his wife and sons, who became active participants in his healing every step of the way.
Justin sustained 60 total fractures and a traumatic brain injury in a fall at work in October. He was in a coma for 30 days at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. His family was unsure what the future would look like, but they leaned into their Christian faith.
“As the doctors were telling us prognosis or what things were going to look like, I almost just shut it out,” Justin’s wife, Laura said. “I know what the world says. I know what the doctors say. I know this is a really bad injury, but that’s where I put my trust.”
On day 34, Justin and his family took a medical transport flight to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals in Omaha, Nebraska, to start rehabilitation.
“When Madonna was first presented to us, it wasn’t something we were expecting,” Laura said. “I was thinking, ‘How are we going to do this? We don’t live in Nebraska,’ and our family rallied around us and said, ‘If this is the best place for him, this is where you should go. We’re going to support you.’”
Despite being five hours from home, Justin’s family says they instantly felt like part of a community at Madonna.
“When we were in the hospital, there was no hope there,” Laura said. “Here, this place is just filled with hope. Filled with hope and filled with love.”
Success in The Specialty Hospital
Justin’s recovery began in Madonna’s Specialty Hospital. When he arrived, he needed a tracheostomy tube to breathe and couldn’t sit up on his own, but his care team saw his desire to work hard.
“We really see patients and their families very vulnerable in the worst of the worst state,” Stephani Wesely, MS, CCC-SLP, CBIS, Justin’s speech therapist, said. “His family hadn’t even heard his voice yet. We really start everything here [in the Specialty Hospital]. Anything is progress, so all those little, tiny things really add up.”
Through hours of speech therapy, Justin was able to go from not eating anything to a full diet and thin liquids. A modified barium swallow test confirmed he could eat and drink safely, a small victory that brought joy to his wife and two sons.
“This was so fun for his family because he was wanting some bacon, he wanted to eat Subway sandwiches with them, and it was nice because they could finally come and eat lunches with him,” Wesely said.
Technology Speeds Up Recovery
After more than a month in bed, Justin was weak and deconditioned. Early on, physical therapy’s goal was simply to get him sitting on the edge of the bed without support. But with an engaged family by his side, Justin quickly reached and surpassed expectations. He began to stand and took his first steps.
“We got him up, and it felt like the day to try it,” Ryan Knight, PT, DPT, Justin’s physical therapist, said. “There were a couple therapists with him, one on each side, and we took some steps. Once we start seeing that, the next day we go and push him to his limit. We get in the hallway, start using our specialized equipment and he was good for it.”
Knight began incorporating technology like the SoloStep harness system to continue to challenge Justin’s balance while maintaining safety.
“He got to where he could stand without external support for the most part, so we didn’t need our bodyweight support equipment, but his arms were still pretty much flaccid, so he couldn’t use an assistive device,” Knight said. “I wanted to be hands-off to have him challenged more and the SoloStep is really built for that. He could stumble and it kept him safe so we could push him more aggressively.”
Moving Through the Continuum
As he grew stronger, Justin transitioned to Madonna’s acute rehabilitation unit, ready for the next challenge. While he physically got stronger, he still struggled with memory, problem-solving and language.
“One of my biggest goals for Justin was to work on his cognition so that he could be more independent and participate in therapy and participate in his everyday tasks in a little bit more of a meaningful way,” Mary McCallum, M.S. CCC-SLP, CBIS, Justin’s speech therapist, said.
McCallum says she and Justin went over orientation questions daily, focusing on where they were, what the date was, and why he was at Madonna.
“The progress he made with those questions was exponential,” McCallum said. “I also was just really proud of him because there were days that I could tell he was tired, he was in pain, and he was still always willing to participate.”
McCallum also utilized Madonna’s Independence Square grocery store to help Justin learn different strategies to improve his memory, like word association and mental and verbal rehearsal.
With foundational skills in place, therapy began to focus on highlighting the progress Justin had already made and looking toward his future.
“Even though he was doing great, I know he was very down about needing as much help as he was,” Aubrey Janousek, MOT, OTR/L, CBIS, Justin’s occupational therapist said. “I was really focused on showing him that he’s able to do things that he might not think he’s able to and do it successfully. I wanted activities I knew he would excel at so he would get some satisfaction from that and boost his confidence.”
Janousek used Fit Lights to enhance Justin’s hand-eye coordination while navigating vision deficits and limited range of motion in his arms.
“The Fit Lights have a sensor to deactivate, so it didn’t matter how accurate his upper extremities were,” Janousek said. “He just had to get within a certain range of the lights, so that provided a little goal directed feedback and he was motivated to beat his score.”
Playing to Justin’s competitive nature, physical therapy utilized Madonna’s Motek GRAIL robotic treadmill and virtual reality system to put all his skills to the test.
“The GRAIL stimulates all of his systems,” Kailyn Wiseman, PT, DPT, Justin’s physical therapist, said. “Not only his balance and endurance, but vision and cognition. It was just great for him to see that all come together and in an environment that is a little bit more fun than what you might normally do day to day.”
Family Completes the Care Team
While Justin pushed through hours of intense, daily physical, occupational and speech therapies, his motivation was never far away. His wife, Laura, and sons, Carter and Cooper, played an active role in his recovery.
“It was important for us to be here with him instead of back home because when you’re at home, you’re always thinking about, ‘Oh, how’s dad doing?’” Carter said. “When I was at home, I called him once a day.”
Cooper agreed, saying the five-hour drive from home was worth it to see his dad’s progress.
“He’s been there for us for our whole life, so when something happens to him, it’s like, why not repay the favor?” he said.
Carter says they’ve each learned a lot throughout this process.
“There’s all this medical stuff like what your heartrate should be, how fast you’re breathing, your blood pressure, stuff like that,” he said. “We’ve also been helping him with motivation because he’s got a long day, a lot of therapy, so we want to make him happy and be there to support him and mom.”
Justin’s care team says they saw improvements from Justin on days his boys were here.
“I feel like they just kind of completed the rehab team,” Wiseman said. They were praying with him outside therapy, motivating him and thinking of creative ways to get the most out of his time here.”
With his family by his side, Justin made huge strides across all therapy disciplines.
“Speech therapy was probably one of the harder things for him because his memory deficits were really frustrating to him,” McCallum said. “It was really inspiring to see those two high school boys push their dad through speech therapy and motivate him and just be his biggest cheerleaders throughout this whole process.”
Baseball Brings it all Together
Justin’s family was able to provide valuable insight into his personality. They emphasized his love of baseball, so his care team knew a community outing to Charles Schwab field, home of the College World Series, would be the perfect chance to celebrate his progress and test his skills.
“Physically, working on uneven surfaces, stairs, ramps, but I think more importantly, socially and emotionally, to get him out of the hospital and interacting with his family and members of the community was really important for him and motivating for them,” Wiseman said.
As Justin moves on to the next phase in his recovery journey, his family says Madonna will always hold a special place in their heart as a place that offered hope and healing.
“The whole community here has just been amazing, from top to bottom,” Justin said.
His wife echoed that sentiment, saying, “This has been beyond anything we could’ve asked for or what we would’ve received somewhere else. It’s been a beautiful journey. He really woke up and came alive while he was here.”
