Sherrill lost her ability to walk. Local support helped her get her mobility, her driver's licence, and her life back.
The first few weeks of September 2019 are a blur for Sherrill Dewar. It started with a toothache on the Labour Day weekend. When the pain just wouldn’t go away, Sherrill went to the Emergency Department at Sault Area Hospital. Doctors found a serious infection, and rushed Sherrill into emergency surgery. Things were so dire, she ended up in the Intensive Care Unit for two weeks. When she finally came to, she had lost the ability to walk.
To get the support she needed to recover, Sherrill was moved to the Rehabilitation floor at SAH.
At first, she struggled to even get in and out of bed. She just didn’t have the strength to lift her legs, so she relied on a patient lift, and nursing staff, for support.
Recovery was a long journey, but – according to Sherrill – it was the Physiotherapy team that got her as far as she’s come. She started going to daily physiotherapy treatments, and then went twice a day as she started feeling better. “They were all so professional, but at the same time they were so human,” she said. “They made me want to do the things they suggested.”
The scariest new challenge for Sherrill was climbing stairs. With her physiotherapy team standing behind her, everything got a little easier. “They kept instilling in me that I could do it. When I took that first step up and turned around and came back, it was a big step forward.”
Sherrill pushed to regain mobility for three months. She graduated from a wheelchair, to a walker, to a cane. She was finally discharged from SAH on January 10th. Even once she was home, the team at SAH arranged for Sherrill to continue to get physiotherapy. By March she had made enough progress to get her driver’s licence reinstated, and some freedom with it.
Sherrill's recovery was made possible thanks to dozens of pieces of medical equipment. Equipment that was purchased through local donations.
Community support helps buy the machines in the ICU that kept Sherrill alive when things looked bleak. Donor gifts bring in the lifts that Sherrill used to get in and out of bed. Local donations cover the equipment in the physiotherapy gym that helped Sherrill get where she is today. Donor's generosity makes recoveries, like Sherrill's, possible.
Local gifts support patients at Sault Area Hospital. Give to SAH Foundation today.
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