The story of Eileen Rufenacht as told to RTF Staff Writer Sarah Rupp

Eileen limped down the hall of the hospital on her way to see her dying mother, maybe for the last time. All her siblings were already in the room, but Eileen struggled to get there. I really need get my leg worked on by the chiropractor.

A Problem
“I thought something was wrong with my leg, because it wouldn’t work right.” Eileen says. But when she went to the chiropractor, he sent her to the doctor for an MRI. “I thought it was for my leg…it turned out they wanted to see what was going on in my brain.”

After an MRI, the doctor found a non-cancerous growth in her brain, which needed to be surgically removed. Doctors educated her about the brain surgery, even stating she would be back to work in six weeks. “I thought if I could have a baby and come back within 3 weeks, I thought I could have this [surgery] and come back in 3 weeks.” Eileen says.

But things did not go as planned.

The Problem Grows
After the surgery, doctors kept Eileen in ICU for two weeks due to complications. “The right half of my body was numb and I didn’t even know what happened the first couple of days because I was out of it.” Eileen explains.

She was moved to a room outside of ICU, and then spent a month at a rehab center. Therapists helped her re-learn everything, like speaking and memory, and using the right side of her body.

“It was very hard,” Eileen confesses. But she found encouragement in her kids, her family and friends, listening to praise music, and Bible verses. After rehab, Eileen moved in with family. It was a long time before she could live on her own.

A New Normal
Eileen now struggles to do the things she used to do. “Walking up and down stairs is hard, and I can’t do it without holding onto railings. I just don’t like to go places so much anymore, because it’s hard to get around.” She says. “But I’m not afraid of trying.”

Eileen also told me sometimes people tried to help her too much. “I didn’t want people to help me.” Eileen says, laughing. She now gets a massage every week to relieve the numbness in her right leg and arm. “I know it’s helping me because I didn’t go for a while last year…and by the time I went back, I lost a lot of feeling in my leg and my arm, but now it’s coming back.” She explains.

Looking Up
Eileen’s positive attitude really inspires me. She has so much to be down about, yet she chooses to get up and take every day as it comes. When I asked her how this whole experience affects her now, Eileen told me, “I just don’t get down about it. I try to think about it positively, and accept life as it is.”

Eileen would like to tell anyone going though a rough patch in life to, “just rely on God, because He got me through this. Rely on Him for everything.”

Sarah Rupp is a freelance writer who loves God, reading, fashion, and music, as well as writing of course! You can find her over at her blog Sarah’s Words of Witsdom or her fashion and beauty blog Mod Style Lounge. She enjoys connecting with readers and other writers though comments.