Guillain-Barre Syndrome Recovery Story: Jamie Boudreau

Watch the recovery journey of Jamie Boudreau as she battled and recovered from Guillain-Barre syndrome. She spent several months receiving care and rehabilitation at the Halifax Health | Brooks Rehabilitation Center for Inpatient Rehabilitation in Daytona, Florida, where she met dedicated therapists who helped her regain her mobility and independence.

Despite the challenges, Jamie was determined to make a full recovery and return to her job and family. She shares with us the compassionate care and support she received from her health care team, as well as the positive impact the experience has had on her outlook on life.

 

Transcript of Jamie Boudreau’s Recovery Story

My name is Jamie Boudreau. I am an employee of Halifax Health as a high-risk ultrasound OB tech, and I had quite the journey at Halifax-Brooks.

January 16th in 2021, I had been feeling very badly for a few days, severe back pain, nothing was making sense. I was sent away by a few ERs who pretty much told me I had just normal back pain. On Saturday, I finally had had enough and I asked my sister to bring me up to Halifax where I have been employed for a long time. I went to the ER, still in excruciating pain, and 24 hours later I could no longer stand.

As I began to fall, the doctor came in and quickly suspected that I had was called Guillain-Barre syndrome, so I was immediately taken to the ICU. This all happened from a Thursday to a Monday, so it hits you pretty hard. I left home on a Saturday and said to my kids, “I’ll see you in a little while,” and I didn’t return home for three months. I didn’t get to see them for a while, this is right in the middle of the pandemic. So I spent several months being taken care of at Halifax, and then I was transferred into Brooks and it was seamless. Seven floors above where I work every day, and I was met by this wonderful group of people.

Jorge Perez Lopez:

First time I met Jamie was here when she was admitted in CIR. She was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, and that’s basically a way that your nerves will attack your own body. It’s like an autoimmune response where it starts being like an ascending paralysis, meaning the weakness and the numbness and the nerve symptoms will all start in the legs and go all the way up affecting up to the arms. She was needing 75% to 100% of help on all the activities.

Jamie Boudreau:

I met my therapist, physical therapist, Taylor, and she and I got along great and really hit it off, and I felt like I could be myself around her.

Taylor Hirschi:

So when I first met Jamie, I remember walking into her room and just feeling super overwhelmed by the support system that she had. Her husband and her sister-in-law were with her every single day, and I remember thinking, wow, here is somebody who is so used to taking care of other patients and she is on the other end right now and she needs all of the love and support, and she is so blessed. So, we trained the family and took a significant amount of time in making sure that no matter what kind of day Jamie was going to have or how the family felt that day, they felt prepared to help her in anything that she needed to do.

Jamie Boudreau:

A very memorable day at Halifax-Brooks was the first time I stood. The day it actually happened, I had two therapists that were helping me that day. It was terrifying, I thought my legs were going to fall off from under me. Just being able to stand up, be tall again out of a chair, I think that was a first moment of hope for myself that things are going to get better. Then I also met Sam, my occupational therapist, who taught me how I could move my hands again and move my arms again.

Sam Brannen:

With occupational therapy, we base our treatment sessions on activities of daily living, so with Jamie, I was able to get her back to her normal routine. Then we also focused on child care, her being able to manage her children, help them at home, and then also being able to get back in the kitchen and cooking and getting back to her daily life routine.

Jamie Boudreau:

And in my journey, I just got stronger and stronger and stronger. I was met with by a very lovely girl named Julie, who managed the wheelchair process and introduced me to a wheelchair and a power wheelchair that would lift and raise. I remember the first time ever getting in that and I was riding around in the gym. It was just another moment, ’cause it was the first time I had moved again on my own without somebody moving me.

Jorge Perez Lopez:

By the end of her stay with us, she was able to be minimal assistance to supervision, meaning needing about 25% or less of help in the different tasks. So she made a good recovery, and then obviously she continue working really hard in outpatient to be where she’s at today, that she’s able to be a great mom, enjoy life, work, and be like nothing really ever happened to her.

Taylor Hirschi:

Jamie was so determined to get better and to do better and be there for her children. She put everybody ahead of herself to make her recovery very successful.

Jamie Boudreau:

I can walk, I can talk, I can love. I go to work every day, a job that I love where I get to take care of people too. In fact, my physical therapist then became my patient shortly after I got back to work, and I was able to reciprocate all the care and love that she had shown to me. I’m recovering positively. I look at life differently, I don’t take little things for granted, I find glimmers everywhere.

Jorge Perez Lopez:

Seeing how people recover, I think that’s the most rewarding part about this job. How can we affect not only that part of the recovery, but get them to their previous function and enjoy life? I think that’s really rewarding.

Jamie Boudreau:

Trauma can lead to good things in life, I truly believe that. I think I am very special to have had the journey that I had with Halifax-Brooks. If I had not had them to support me, I don’t feel like I would be walking today, I don’t think I would be able to look at life the way I am today. I’m afraid to say I wouldn’t be working still again today, so they’ll always have a special place in my heart.

How Brooks Rehabilitation can Help

Learn more about our Guillain-Barre Treatment Program or request information about care and treatment programs at Brooks on our Become a Patient page.