Today, we would like to share a special story with our readers about a truly remarkable customer and her family.
Sidney Doane is a graduate of Oklahoma State University. Two years ago, she was a graduate student at the University of Kansas. She has an enormous passion for helping children, and she was working towards her EdS. in school psychology. She’s also shown Quarter Horses competitively for 15 years.
An Accident, and a Life Interrupted
On December 18, 2014, Sidney left home for Waco, Texas. Her sister Audrey’s roommates were graduating from Baylor, and she wanted to be there.
It had snowed the night before, but she was careful. To be safe, she waited until 11:00 am to start driving.
She never made it.
By 1:20 pm, she was passing through Wichita. There, she hit a patch of slush and ice that sent her car spinning through the air.
It flipped multiple times before finally landing in a culvert. Unfortunately, the rotational force of the spinning wreaked havoc on the fabric of Sidney’s brain.
At the hospital, doctors said Sidney had severe DAI, diffuse axonal injury. It was a devastating diagnosis. DAI is a stretching injury to the neurons (the cell bodies of the brain) and axons (fibers that allow for communication from one neuron to another). For severe DAI, the odds are frightening:
- Most patients enter a coma.
- Over 90% of patients with severe DAI never regain consciousness.
- Those who do wake up often remain significantly impaired.
Sidney’s Miraculous Recovery
Fortunately, this is a story about beating the odds. Sidney was in a coma for one month and then in a minimally conscious state for 3 more months. She lost the ability to breathe on her own, swallow, walk, talk, and communicate. But with the help of Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals, Sidney came out of the coma and began a long, slow recovery.
At first, she was trapped in her own body unable to communicate or move. But amazingly, after 5 months Sidney was off her feeding tube and relearning how to eat and swallow normally. After 2 years of hard work, she can walk on her own.
With the immense support of her family, doctors, and Sidney’s Facebook page, Sidney continues to do outpatient therapy 8 hours a day, 3 days a week.
During therapy, trying to get her memory back again, they would ask Sidney about her favorite family vacation to the Cayman Islands. Her parents promised that once she could walk again on her own, the whole family would go back.
5 Days to Get a Passport for the Trip of a Lifetime
That’s where Rush My Passport came in. With only 5 days before the trip, Sidney’s parents realized her passport was missing.
How could they cancel the trip, after their family had been through so much? An internet search for expedited passports led them to RushMyPassport.
Heidi, Sidney’s mother, said, “We were so nervous and couldn’t imagine how all this could work. With a leap of faith, we communicated with the office, filled out the paperwork, got a new passport, drove to the nearest passport office and sent our information off with a prayer!”
When they arrived in Houston for a wedding the night before the trip, Sidney’s passport was waiting at the hotel front desk. Sidney and her family enjoyed 5 days in the Caymans on the beach relaxing, practicing walking in the sand, and their favorite, swimming with the stingrays.
After 2 “nightmare” years, it was an amazing family celebration. Heidi says, “We are lucky and grateful to be able to enjoy life again.”
Sidney and her family hope to take an Alaskan Cruise as their next family trip. Sidney will continue therapy to get her life back to normal and hopes to be back in school within the next year to finish her degree. If you want to learn more about Sidney’s remarkable story, you can visit her Facebook page here.
Thank you, Doane Family for using our service and sharing your story with us. You are why we do what we do!
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