Wendy's Story

Wendy wants to go to Belize for Christmas.

But for her, it’s more than a holiday. It’s a marking-point for her recovery. “Going to Belize means that I don’t have my AFO [ankle-foot orthosis] on my leg,” she says. “If I have it on, I can’t feel the sand through my toes.”

In 2016, Wendy had a stroke. “It was bright and early on a Monday morning,” she says. “I just woke up out of bed. It was 6:00 and I was going to work. I got up and felt awful tired and I didn’t know what I was doing, [getting] up and down out of bed. I didn’t go to work. Finally, it was 9:00 at night, and the police were breaking in the door. The ambulance came and they took me to Peace River and x-rayed my brain. At 1:00 in the morning, I was flown to Edmonton. I went down on February 22 and woke up on February 25.”

Wendy moved to Medicine Hat in October of 2019. “I moved because there was more physio here,” she says. “My goals are to rehabilitate my right arm and hand. When I get up in the morning, I cook breakfast, and it just hangs there until I look down at it and say, ‘Hey hand, get up and do something!’ and then it does something. That’s what Lisa’s helping me to rehabilitate.”

Lisa works with Wendy at BIRS, a division of REDI that supports people with brain injuries. “I work in our Cognitive Program, working with people on reaching their goals,” Lisa says. “Whether it’s related to memory, attention, speech, balance, or strength, it just depends on the people who come to us. Some people are still in the hospital when we meet. Others come to us 20 years after their injury. There is quite a wide range.”

Lisa’s supports change drastically, depending on who she’s working with. “It’s very client-driven,” she says. “Some people I’ve worked with for 20 years. Others can go through the program in a couple of months. It just depends on what they want to work on and the severity of their injury. And their motivation level - that’s huge. Getting people through the front door is the hardest thing, but once they’re here, I just encourage them, praise them, and remind them of what they want to work on. I work with a lot of people with short-term memory issues, so that’s part of it right there.”

Wendy explains. “I’m a scientist,” she says, “and environmental science is in my brain, but it just doesn’t come out. So we have to teach it - I have to teach it to come out. It’s really hard.”

“We do lots of programs to rehabilitate my mind,” she says. “For part of the speech process that we work on, Lisa puts on the timer and tells me to think of a topic and words relate to it. But I can’t get to any words because the timer is on. If I can slow down and speak properly and just think, then I can do it. We’re working on it.”

Amidst all of this, Wendy continues to settle into her new home. “I want to get to know Medicine Hat,” she says. “Right now, I don’t know where are the people are. This weekend, I went to the farmer’s market, but there are a lot of things like that I don’t know about yet.”

“Wendy is very determined,” Lisa says. It’s a quality Wendy needs every day. But thinking of being in Belize, with the sand between her toes, keeps her focused. 

“I want to get better,” she says. “I don’t know if it’ll be this Christmas. Maybe. But next Christmas for sure.”