Beating the Odds Patient walks again after severe spinal cord injury By John Berggren L ying on the ground under the bed of a pickup truck following a rollover accident in which she was ejected, Marci Clare recalls thinking the reason she couldn't move was because she was pinned. She prayed help would find her soon on that rural Ottawa County road in May 2016. She remembers asking God to not let her die. She wanted to see her babies again. Within 30 minutes of the accident she was found by a passerby who contacted emergency services. Clare wasn't pinned; she was paralyzed. When she woke up in the intensive care unit at Salina Regional Health Center following a long and complicated surgery to repair the fractured C6 and C7 vertebrae in her spine, Clare didn't want to ask doctors if she'd ever walk again. They had already told family members the odds were slim, but only time would tell. "She had an incomplete fracture and the approach with these types of injuries is surgical repair, take precautions to prevent blood clots and infection, and be super-aggressive with rehabilitative therapy," says Scott Boswell, M.D., the neurosurgeon on call the night of Clare's accident. Therapists began moving and stretching Clare's arms and hands and legs just hours after surgery. While she 10 srhc.comhttp://www.srhc.com