New Lenox Man Ready to Dance Thanks to Therapists at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab at Silver Cross Hospital

John Pye not only survived a deadly heart attack a year ago, but was able to take a very special walk on the anniversary of his release from Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, thanks to the care by a host of medical experts, including the team from the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab at Silver Cross.

Pye was playing pickleball with a friend at a court in Mokena July 1 of last year. The next thing he remembers was waking up at Silver Cross 20 days later.

“There was another player there who knew CPR, so I hear he was doing that on me until the police arrived with a defibrillator,” said Pye, 73, a retired educator.

“Police worked on me until the Mokena Fire Department got there and took me to Silver Cross. They tell me I was without oxygen for a total of 12 minutes.”

Rescue and Recovery

Mokena EMTs rushed Pye to Silver Cross, where he was admitted to Cardiac Intensive Care, where doctors replaced a pacemaker with one that included a defibrillator. He spent many of the following 20 days intubated and unconscious.

When he woke up, Pye and his wife, Nancy, heard that his being without oxygen for so long meant there would be a lot of work to do to regain some normal functions, including swallowing, walking and using his hands.

Nancy said they were wondering how to find a facility to help John rehabilitate. Enter Dr. Megan Parkes, Medical Director of the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab at Silver Cross Hospital, who shared the good news with the Pyes.

“She told us AbilityLab therapists at Silver Cross could work with him, and we were just overjoyed,” Nancy said. “I hugged her, I was so happy.”

Dr. Parkes said when she first saw Pye, “He was in really bad shape. He was awake, but weak and disoriented. So, his wife was really happy he could get therapy in our AbilityLab here.”

Only four days later, AbilityLab therapists had Pye up from his bed and into a Sara Stedy, a piece of equipment that helps a patient sit or stand while gaining the strength to walk again.

Within a few days, Pye already was able to move into a wheelchair, thanks, Dr. Parkes said, “to the hard work of therapists, nursing team and the patient.”

His Occupational Therapist, Elena Woulfe, agreed Pye was all in.

“John was very pleasant and motivated to get better. He was willing to do any challenges that we presented to him,” she said.

During his therapy, Pye also was on a feeding tube as he had difficulty swallowing. A speech therapist worked with him on that, as well as on strengthening his memory, giving him puzzles and other challenges to improve his function.

“They would challenge me to do a little more each time, yet they were so compassionate and caring. And they taught my family how to help with the therapy for me.”

In addition, there were two sessions each day of physical therapy and occupational therapy.

“They helped me be able to get into a large harness to start walking, including walking backward, which I didn’t realize would be so difficult. Gradually, I was able to get myself into a wheelchair, use a walker, and then a cane and then walk without any help.”

Dr. Parkes said that after only a week, his metrics improved from poor to moderate. “And thanks to his determination and great support from his family, he continued to improve by leaps and bounds.”

The AbilityLab therapists were “a gift from heaven,” Nancy said. “And Dr. Parkes was our guardian angel. She checked in on us every day.”

Gradually, Pye relearned tasks as his fine motor skills developed with their help. He still has a little balance problem, he said, but not much.

“When he first started walking, he was able to go only 30 feet,” Dr. Parkes said. “By the time he was discharged, he was walking 400 feet. This really was an amazing outcome, given how he first came in to Silver Cross. He was lucky the people around him on the court knew what to do until the police and EMTs arrived.”

The Walk of Life

Pye was released to home from Silver Cross after 40 days in the hospital, but his therapy continued at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s DayRehab Center in Burr Ridge.

“And the transfer of care from the hospital to there was seamless,” he said. “They knew all about what I needed to continue to work on to grow and continue my life with my family.”

His cardiologist says pickleball is out now, as is raking the leaves and other yard work. But he walks a lot, rides a stationary bike and has resumed driving.

And if he had had any balance issues last weekend, his youngest daughter, Julie, was right there to hold him up.

On the one-year anniversary of his release from Silver Cross, “He walked her down the aisle at her wedding,” Nancy said. “We are so thankful. We are just so blessed to have Silver Cross as our hospital.”

To learn more about rehabilitation services at Silver Cross, visit silvercross.org.