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I guess I want to say 'do you believe in miracles?' because before this I never did.

My life came to a bitter halt almost a year ago. My husband Charles was on oxygen at home and he was doing fine until one day when he suddenly stopped breathing. We called the paramedics and he ended up being taken to the hospital where he stayed for four weeks.

The doctors at that hospital told me that he wasn't going to make it and that he had to go somewhere where he could get the help he needed. The hospital we were at did not have a respiratory department and they gave me some choices and I went to visit Northeast Center. I toured and fell in love with the place and I knew this was it - this was the place that could help him.

I had problems with my insurance company to get him at Northeast Center because they said it was out of network. JoAnne Ligouri the director of admissions fought tooth and nail with the insurance company and worked with me every step of the way and he was approved.

When he arrived here at Northeast Center Charles had pneumonia and the flu from his stay at the hospital.  While in the hospital he also developed MRSA as well as C. diff (Clostridium difficile - A bacterium that is one of the most common causes of infection of the large bowel), and it turned out he had it for weeks. 

My husband doesn't remember any of what happened but I remember every moment. When Charles came to Northeast Center, I was in seventh heaven. Here instead of being negative they said we are here to get your husband off the ventilator, get him strong, get him walking and get him home.

There were complications with along the way; he had to go back to the hospital to help with the diarrhea. The hospital put in a trach, and then put him on a ventilator and installed a feeding tube and the doctor there told me that my husband would never eat solid food again - one hospital told me he wasn't going to make it and another told me that he would never eat.

After three weeks he returned to Northeast Center. Often when people get very ill and they are not completely aware they will try to take out their tubes as was the case with my husband. I remember holding his hand and keeping him calm. He started to get better and the first thing he really remembers now was meeting Sylvia his aide - Sylvia became his buddy.

Sylvia would come in to change him and when he started to get more oriented he would let her know when he needed the bedpan and that’s when they started working closely together. He would work with Sylvia he would move himself and be a part of the care and to me - especially after what we had been through at the hospitals - it was fantastic.

His diarrhea was cured and it was cured at Northeast Center - not at either of the hospitals but right here!   Every day I would visit him, his oxygen was at one hundred percent because he had difficulty breathing but he worked with the staff who was as wonderful to me as they were to my husband.

One day when I arrived the staff said "do you see something?" I looked at him and saw the catheter was gone - miracle number one!  He was now able to use the urinal. Who celebrates over someone using a urinal? Well I did!  Eventually Charles was weaned from the ventilator - a second miracle.

Charles and his Neighborhood staff.

Every day the oxygen levels would go down he was doing much better. Than came the day when they said that want to take him for a feeding evaluation. Well I was under the impression from the hospital he would never eat regular food again. So he went for the evaluation and he passed with flying colors. He started with a special soft diet and staff worked with him and one day when I came in the feeding tube was gone and he was eating again! Well for the man who 'would never eat again' he is now able to eat just about everything and that came about because the people at Northeast Center worked to get him there. A third miracle!

My husband could not talk well because of the trach, it was capped but he had difficulty. The next goal was to remove the trach. One day I got a phone call and it was Charles and he whispered “they want to take out my trach," and soon thereafter he was decannulated and able to talk for real again. Another miracle!

The next thing was walking. He had been on his back for sometime and now he was able to do physical therapy. Northeast Center has fantastic therapists. They got him up and going, he worked on the parallel bars with the physical therapist; the occupational therapist started him out on playing games to get him moving again. Now he can walk alone with a walker and he goes all over the building independently. Another miracle (looks at her husband) you are my miracle you have to believe in them because 'miracle' is going home tomorrow.

Charles told us a bit about his experience:

I want to mention Edna, a wonderful person who works in physical therapy. She did an awful lot to help me get walking to be active physically and I am getting better and better fast.  Sylvia my aide was my backbone and that all started because she got me to 'turn over' - a simple thing like that can be a big step forward and I am grateful for her help. 

I can't wait to go home, the first thing I am going to do when I get home is relax.  The staff always took the time to work with me and help me - you need people who are dedicated to working with you, and you don't always get that in other places but you get it here.  I can't say enough about Northeast Center.

Charles is the love of my life; we have been married for forty-seven years. I am a bank teller, I still work forty hours a week but I was able to work and visit my husband because of twenty-four hours visiting hours at Northeast Center.  If I could give someone who is going through the same thing advice I would say be with your spouse as much as possible, talk to them, support them and believe they will get better.

I trust Northeast Center for Special Care heart and sole. It made me feel good to know that I could come here at any time and whenever I called someone would always talk with me, Northeast Center gave me the hope that my husband would get better.  The name is Northeast Center for Special Care, I call it Northeast Center for Special 'Miracles.'