VOLUNTEERS Volunteers help patients and families with a variety of needs, such as taking you to a therapy session or a special event, or helping your therapist during your therapy. For additional information, or to request a volunteer, please call the Volunteer Services Office from your room phone at 8.6026. SCHOOLING For those of school age, we have a schoolroom onsite with a dedicated Chicago Board of Education teacher. DINING The cafeteria is on the 12th floor. Hot and cold meals, fresh fruit, salads and healthy snacks are available during hours of operation. There are also vending
Beau’s Story: Taking On the Chicago Marathon On April 15, 2016, Beau went to a Cubs game, crashed on a friend’s couch and woke up to a room filled with smoke. When he opened his eyes again, he was in the hospital. His left hand was burned so badly his bones fused together, he was breathing through a tube and he’d lost nearly 50 pounds, mostly of muscle mass. The support of his friends, family and medical team pulled him through and by July, he was ready for inpatient physical therapy. Most basic tasks, like getting out of bed, eluded him. His skin and many of his muscles, including those in his calves, were extremely tight and his heart rate was elevated, likely from a combination of shock and deconditioning. He couldn’t form a full smile either, said Bridget Fowler, his physical therapist. “The unique thing about Beau that I wish I could see in all of my patients is the kind of determination and dedication as well as motivation he had to push himself and to succeed and reach his full potential,” Fowler said. “I think it really takes a special personality to go through something as traumatic as he did and turn it around for the positive.” The team at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab fitted Beau with orthotics, monitored his blood pressure and heart rate, and worked to safely push himself into higher-intensity exercises. He stretched and strengthened his skin and muscles daily. He started walking with a walker soon after starting therapy. They asked him to go 10 feet; it felt like 10 miles. He was ready to head home just a month later. But by August, he was able to transition to outpatient rehab at an affiliated facility in suburban Wheeling, where he soon progressed. For eight months, he spent three hours a day there. The healing process has taken him far from his bed at Stroger Hospital, where he spent three months in a medically-induced coma, to the starting line of the 2018 Chicago Marathon. “The most important thing to me is enjoying right now,” said Zanca, “but still recognizing where I’m trying to go and to remember where I once was.”
machines, a Farmer’s Fridge and microwaves. Another option is Argo Tea on the 10th floor.
Cafeteria Hours Monday–Friday
• Breakfast: 7–10 am • Lunch: 11 am–2 pm • Dinner: 4–7 pm Saturday–Sunday • Breakfast: 7:30–10 am • Lunch: 11 am–2 pm • Dinner: 4–6:30 pm
To watch Beau’s story, visit sralab.org /beau
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