Cara doesn’t remember the airbag deploying after a car crashed into her on a South Carolina highway just before Christmas, 2023. She walked away from the accident with a broken nose, a chipped tooth and a severe concussion. She felt lucky to be alive.
Cara headed to her parents’ home in New Jersey for Christmas with family, expecting to be recovered when she returned to work a week later. But since concussions can have severe lingering effects, her reality was different. When Cara returned to her job as an emergency department nurse on Hilton Head Island, she knew she still wasn’t feeling right. She was continuing to have problems with her vision, motor skills and cognition.
A physician colleague noticed immediately that Cara’s concussion symptoms were severely affecting her. He admitted her into the hospital’s emergency department for re-evaluation.
Diagnosing a Brain Injury
After a battery of neurological tests at the small community hospital, things got worse for Cara. The spinal tap they had performed had caused a cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) leak.
“I couldn’t function at all,” says Cara. “My headaches became so intense. I was sleeping 16 hours a day. I was really frightened. I couldn’t even sit up due to the pain.”
Finding Neuro-Physiatry Care in New Jersey
Cara was able to get the CSF leak fixed in South Carolina. But it quickly became clear that the breadth of services she needed to recover would require her to return to New Jersey where there were more specialists available.
“My mom was talking with a family friend, Heather Martell, who is a nurse educator at Atlantic Health System’s Overlook Medical Center neuro-intensive care unit,” says Cara. “She explained the role of neuro-physiatry, and how it might help heal my concussion. I moved back to my parents’ home in New Jersey and met Dr. McKay, who specializes in a rare niche of medicine known as neuro-physiatry.”
A Doctor’s Perspective and Guidance
“Cara was clearly suffering from a traumatic brain injury,” says Ondrea McKay, MD, an Atlantic Health System physical medicine and rehabilitation physician who specializes in neuro-physiatry. “We conducted a thorough evaluation the first day we saw Cara and I knew that if we bundled particular therapies together, we could help her recover more quickly. I was certain our team of therapists could bring positive change.”
Under Dr. McKay’s guidance, Cara started vestibular therapy, which is rehabilitation that uses exercise to address dizziness and balance impairments. She also began occupational therapy to address vision and tracking impairments, then added speech therapy to address cognitive deficits.
The Dream Team of Therapists
“I worked with the most exceptional therapists,” says Cara, “Laura Duff (vestibular therapy), Michelle Darling (occupational therapy), Shaye Gilmartin and Victor DeSario (speech therapy) and the entire team at the Gerald J. Glasser Center for Neuro Rehabilitation. The intense collaboration among Dr. McKay and my entire therapy team accelerated my recovery.”
Cara went to therapy six times a week for several months and never missed an appointment. She worked hard, sometimes to the point of frustration. But she was seeing gradual improvements — and so was her family.
“Whether I was reading charts, bouncing a ball or dual tasking, it was all hard work because I had significant deficits, especially with my vision,” says Cara.
Confidence Builds, Progress Continues
Although there was more work to be done, Cara recalls the day that Dr. McKay finally cleared her to go back to work.
“That was a huge day for me,” says Cara “Dr. McKay gave me the confidence I needed to get my life back, because I still didn’t trust myself. But I did trust Dr. McKay.”
Dr. McKay adds, “Cara made huge progress in therapy. When symptoms would crop up and she would become discouraged, it was only because she was tackling harder and harder tasks. She was really pushing herself. She was learning new strategies to regain baseline cognition and new approaches to deal with her symptoms — which would all diminish in time.”
A Return to ‘Normal’ Life
Six months after that fateful car accident, Cara returned to Hilton Head ready for the intensity of the hospital’s emergency department. She was still under the care of Dr McKay, pacing herself and pushing herself. Cara was recovering, and ever so thankful.
“Dr. McKay was amazing through this whole process,” says Cara. “She reassured me that no matter how hard I pushed, I wouldn’t hurt myself or cause a setback. I have always been a huge proponent of therapy. I worked so hard to get through this — and I did it. Therapy was the key to getting my life back.”
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