For Justin Weise, family means everything.
So when the father of three and South Dakota truck driver was involved in a work-related accident, he turned to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals for guidance.
“A couple of deer came out in front of me,” Justin said. “I swerved around the deer and that trailer fell onto the ditch and pulled me in and rolled the truck. The roof came down, broke my spine, and shot me between the seats. Madonna was very family-oriented. They want to include your family in everything that they do.”
Justin spent two weeks at Sanford Health in Sioux Falls. Given a 5% chance of walking again, he came to Madonna’s specialized spinal cord program, recognizing he needed to learn how to function independently from a wheelchair. He also needed to rebuild his strength.
“I couldn’t even get in a wheelchair,” Justin said. “I couldn’t sit up. I couldn’t roll. I literally had no muscle mass.”
Having no sensation or movement below his waist, Justin’s physician-led care team taught him how to move or reposition himself without using his legs. They also incorporated different strategies to simulate everyday activities using his wheelchair.
“We showed him he could still live his life from a wheelchair,” Katelyn DuPont, OTD, OTR/L, occupational therapist said. “Whether that was cooking from a wheelchair level, getting in and out of the car, transporting the wheelchair so he could still do the things he needed to do.”
Justin also benefited from Madonna’s driver retraining program. He started on the driving simulator which mimics the characteristics of an actual car. Then, he transitioned to the driving evaluation which allowed him to practice hand-control steering and driving assessments and training with trained therapists.
Recognizing that Justin’s wife and kids were his biggest sources of motivation, his care team also tried to include them whenever possible.
“We would go play yard games or work on balance from his wheelchair or sitting balance on the mat in the gym and incorporating his kids to playing a game with him,” DuPont said. “I think that was a lot more meaningful to him and a big piece of why he was so motivated to get independent and to be home with them.”
After two months, Justin transitioned to Madonna’s intense outpatient rehabilitation day program.
“That continuum is super helpful for the patients, especially when you’re going through such a new change,” DuPont said. “To have that increased support from medical staff, but also therapy staff in that inpatient setting to teach him as he’s learning, but then to come back for that intense outpatient therapy while living independently was huge for his success.”
In outpatient therapy, his interdisciplinary team focused on continuing to build his core strength and balance.
“He did everything from the back of his wheelchair and had the chair do complete support, so throughout his time in rehab day, any activity we did, I had him sit forward, put his feet on the ground, not have his back supported at all,” Margaret Williams, CTRS, MS, recreational therapist, said. “He did golf, cornhole, and air hockey and finally at the end, we tried ping pong. He realized then that he really needed to continue to work on more core strength and stability because reaching and trying to do bigger movements with your upper body requires more balance.”
A month later, Justin permanently returned home to Gregory, South Dakota, and his family. He recognizes how far he’s come and is grateful for the support he’s received.
“I feel like I’m making strides in the right direction,” Justin said. “If it weren’t for Madonna, I wouldn’t even be close to where I am now.”