Patient Stories: Stacy Rosevear

Stacy Rosevear is a young woman who writes eloquently and has a dry sense of humor. She is also a former patient at the University of Washington Medical Center’s Inpatient Rehabilitation unit.

At 27, an age when most people are building their careers and relationships, Stacy Rosevear found herself unable to do anything but blink. A tube helped her eat, a ventilator helped her breathe. Following a massive stroke, Stacy found herself completely paralyzed and frightened of what her future might be.

When asked about her rehabilitation experiences, Stacy remembers, "My body was no longer mine. Many people helped me function. And while this was an amazing gift in many ways, it remained a constant adjustment - to allow people to help, to ask for help, to admit to myself there was an issue to work on."

Constant movement defined her life at the time. Stacy’s memories revolve around transitions: from bed to chair to table, from struggle in the morning to overwhelming anxiety in the evening. Her days were filled with challenge, exhausting her, and leaving her feeling even less in control. "Rehabilitation is what I imagine running a marathon is like," Stacy comments, "[where] the mental battle to get across the finish line remains the true work.

A key part in helping Stacy get through her grueling schedule was the coordination provided by the UWMC Rehabilitation Medicine Department. Here, the different experts involved in her care talked with each other, providing each other with up-to-date progress reports. Stacy met weekly with a group representing the disciplines involved and headed by the doctor on her case. This meeting made Stacy feel confident and involved in her progress.

Committed to excelling, Stacy left the Inpatient Rehabilitation unit early. Her team continued to be a part of her life by helping her make the transition to the adjustments she needed in her new lifestyle and by developing occupational and recreational therapies to complete her transition back into the world.

Once Stacy could transfer from wheelchair to toilet, she found that her team expected her to re-involve herself in the world. Recreation therapy included attending football and soccer games or heading out to the swimming pool. As Stacy says, "Being in the real world, having people look at me differently because of new scars or …a wheelchair, failing at certain tasks when [out] and trying again was the hardest work of all."

Stacy has successfully completed her rehabilitation journey with her UW team of professionals. Their dedication to treating the whole person has helped Stacy cross her personal marathon’s finish line into an independent and fulfilling life.

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