Kansas woman relies on resilience during recovery at Madonna

In January 2023, Zena Schmelzle caught pneumonia. About a week into her illness, the 51-year-old early childhood special education teacher started noticing bizarre symptoms.
“On Saturday, I had brushed my teeth with new toothpaste, and my tongue was numb,” Zena recalled. “And I thought it was the toothpaste. Looking back, I think that was the start.”
A few hours later, Zena felt weak, and she had trouble walking. Her husband took her to the local emergency room, where Zena’s feelings of numbness spread across her body. Diagnostic tests later revealed she had Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological disorder in which the immune system damages nerves.
After two weeks in the ICU at Stormont Vail Health, Zena knew she needed specialized medical rehabilitation and chose Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals.
“We had heard great things about Madonna,” Zena said. “Several people we knew have gone there.”
When she arrived at Madonna, Zena couldn’t walk or eat solid foods. She still had numbness on the left side of her face, which affected her vision and speech. She knew she had a long road to recovery, but she said Madonna’s physician-led staff made all the difference.
“The staff was really great,” Zena said. “I work with therapists all the time [at work], and they were like, ‘you’re going to hate therapy.’ And I didn’t. Madonna made it fun. I think that’s a great tribute to their personalities.”
The feeling among Madonna’s staff was mutual.
“Zena was so hard working and willing to try anything,” Lori Holz, PT, DPT, a Madonna inpatient physical therapist, said. “Her background as an early childhood interventionist helped her understand the therapy. I really loved working with Zena because she was also willing to let my student, Michaela Gerhard, take the lead with her sessions as she understood the point of student therapists and the learning they need to do.”
Aided by her Madonna care team and specialized technology, Zena regained her mobility. She started her physical therapy sessions in Madonna’s warm water aquatic pool, which helped increase her strength and her tolerance to weight bearing. From there, Zena progressed to using Madonna’s state-of-the-art gait and mobility lab to standing with a walker and eventually taking her first steps in the parallel bars.
“I remember [it was] on a Friday, I couldn’t do anything in the research lab, and they were trying to get me to walk. I was in a harness and I couldn’t do it,” Zena said. “And on Tuesday, I was standing on my own.”
Likewise, Zena saw improvements in speech therapy. She used the VitalStim, an electrical stimulation device, to reactivate her facial muscles and improve her swallowing and speech. By the end of her stay, she could walk short distances, and her speech and vision had significantly improved.
Zena recently returned to her family in Seneca, Kansas, and she plans to participate in outpatient therapy closer to home. She’s looking forward to watching her children play softball this summer and returning to her job. Reflecting on her rehabilitation journey, Zena believes her hard-won resilience comes from life experience and the loving support of her family.
“I’ve had cancer; I’ve lost a son,” the mother of three said. “So, we go through those things, and you have to keep moving forward for your family and yourself.”