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Teacher and stroke survivor learns profound life lessons during Madonna recovery

Sydney Boyd’s life changed in an instant while driving home from teaching at the Primrose School of Lee’s Summit. Over the last couple of months, the teacher has been learning how to live her life again at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals.
A March 2024 car accident left the 21-year-old with fractures in both femurs, her elbow and head trauma. Then, her family received more bad news. Sydney had fat embolism syndrome (FES), a life-threatening condition where a piece of intravascular fat can block blood flow to any part of the body. In Sydney’s case, she had a patent foramen ovale, a small opening in the heart between the right and left atria that doesn’t close after birth. This hole allowed the fat emboli to move to her brain, causing a series of small strokes and seizures.
“We went from just a few broken bones to life-threatening really quickly,” Marlaine Boyd, Sydney’s stepmother, said. “It felt minute by minute for a long time until she finally graduated ICU status and they’re like it’s time for rehab. So then the next discussion is where are we going for that, and if I heard it once, we heard it from every single person: Madonna is the place to go. If you can get to Madonna, that’s where you should be.”
Following the recommendations of her neurology team at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Sydney and her family came to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals’ specialized stroke and brain injury programs seeking hope.
“As she woke up, we didn’t know how she was going to handle that emotionally,” Roy Boyd, Sydney’s father, said. “Madonna helped us and her recover through that much better than I anticipated. I really thought that was going to be our biggest hurdle and it wasn’t.”
Coping with overwhelming amounts of fear and anxiety, Sydney started slow in her daily therapy sessions. Fortunately, her physician-led care team knew she just needed time to build some rapport and trust.
“She did therapy no matter how she was feeling,” Sara Hohensee, PT, DPT, CBIS, her physical therapist said. “Once we got through that fear and established a good relationship, I was able to help her start to move a little bit more and to trust me that I was going to be there for her and help her throughout those difficult times. She always tried as hard as she could and did whatever we asked of her. And no matter how scared she was, and how much pain she was having. And so that really propelled her to the great success that she made in her recovery.”

Hohensee knew from the beginning that Sydney could move her legs. The muscle activation was present, but there was a lot of pain from the femur fractures. Utilizing the bodyweight-supported treadmill training system, Sara got Sydney up walking.
“I knew she could move (her legs) if she was given the right amount of support,” Hohensee said. “Once she got more comfortable putting weight through her legs, we were able to lower that body weight support so that she was taking most of the work through her own legs. That led to her being able to walk overground thousands of feet with no physical assistance. That treadmill was so important in her success, especially with that fear and the need to reestablish that trust with her legs. And it did, and it carried over and it worked wonders.”
Sydney also regained some confidence in Madonna’s warm water therapy pool.
“Sydney loved the pool,” Hohensee said. “It was a very calming way for her to be able to really work hard and make a really big difference in her range of motion and her overall confidence in her abilities.
After regaining her mobility and her voice and ability to retrieve words, Sydney began practicing her teaching skills through Madonna’s Therapeutic Learning Center.
“It helped me because she gave me kids’ books to read and activities to go with it,” Sydney said. “I practice doing questions I could ask them and reading the books and holding a book.”

Throughout this process, Sydney’s family has been by her side, working through home modification projects and offering constant support during therapy sessions. She also felt the support of her community when they wore green attire and ribbons at the Primrose School of Lee’s Summit. Collectively, Sydney and her support team celebrated when she walked out of Madonna using only a walker, 60 days after her accident. Her family and care team noticed Sydney’s perseverance, strength and heartfelt personality on display throughout her recovery journey.
“I really tried hard every day in therapy. I really tried to give it my all.”