For 30 years, Bianca Weathers drove dairy trucks all over the country. She traveled through 47 of the 50 states and much of her life was spent on the road.
“The only state I didn’t make it to was Maine,” Bianca said. “I made it to all the other states, except of course, Alaska and Hawaii.”
But in August of 2022, Bianca fell at work and broke her foot. That work-related injury led to some serious medical complications, including a spinal cord fracture and an amputation of her right leg. Eventually, she came to Madonna’s Specialty Hospital, where she received a sophisticated level of medical care that her condition required due to her injuries.
After she garnered enough stamina and strength to withstand three hours of intense physical and occupational therapies, Bianca was moved to Madonna’s specialized spinal cord and amputation programs.
“She was very limited in her mobility and she was in a lot of pain, back pain, leg pain,” Matt Ulmer, PT, DPT, a Madonna physical therapist said. “She required just maximum assistance. We weren’t working with the prosthesis when she first got to me, just working on a lot of sitting balance upright and strengthening her right leg as much as possible.”
Bianca benefitted from some of Madonna’s specialized technology, including the Moveo, a squatting machine, and the NuStep bike to build strength in her legs. She also worked on repetitive sitting and standing motion, using a walker. Eventually in the five months she spent at Madonna, therapists were able to wean her off the bodyweight support devices and she used her legs to walk, despite wondering if she’d do that again.
“I wasn’t sure if she’d be able to walk,” Ulmer said. “And the fact that she was able to stand, use her prosthesis despite her spinal cord injury and her back surgery that she needed while she was here. She was still very motivated and got herself upright using the walker and able to walk and I was just surprised about that. She really progressed with her mobility, her ability to transfer herself. That was just really great to see.”
Bianca also credits the in-house Hanger Clinic and trained prosthetists for giving her a “beautiful prosthetic”, which allowed her to re-learn to walk. Now, she can walk and stand up with the assistance of a walker. It has provided her a taste of the independence, she very much desires.
And while going back to driving dairy trucks is not feasible for Bianca, she has a new profession in mind.
“Since my hobby is crocheting, I want to open up a little business and sell my crochet goods,” she said.
With the business model still in the works, Bianca recognizes that without the encouragement and support at Madonna, none of this would be possible.
“I want to thank everybody; the nurses, the aides, the doctors and all my therapists,” Bianca said. “I’m so grateful. It’s been a hard time but a good time. It humbled me very much.”