Ten years of lives changed

POST FALLS — Chandell Rasmussen knew something wasn't right.

She was sitting on her in-laws' couch in February when she began to feel strange.

"I said, ‘I don’t feel good. Something’s wrong,’” she said Wednesday evening, seated at a table in the gathering area of the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Northwest.

As her boyfriend drove her to a different hospital, she blacked out. Fluid in her lungs compressed her heart and she experienced complete lung failure. This was brought on by a rare lung disease with which she had previously been diagnosed.

"My heart wasn’t beating at all," she said. "When I got to the hospital I was purple. I wasn’t moving. I was in a coma for two months.”

Rasmussen, of Lewiston, was in North Idaho when this happened. Her dad, Darreld Rasmussen, went into early retirement to be by his daughter's side.

“He literally sat with me every single day in the hospital," Chandell said. "Even if I was sleeping he would sit in there every single day."

Something extraordinary happened when she was unconscious.

"It’s literally such a miracle. When I was in the coma, I saw Jesus. That totally changed my life," she said. "I owe it up to him why I’m here."

Chandell lost feeling everywhere and couldn’t walk or talk when she finally awoke. She was eventually transferred to the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Northwest in Post Falls.

"When I got here, I was so scared,” she said. “They were like, ‘No, it’s OK, you’re fine,’ and they walk you through everything. After the first day, I was like, 'Oh my God, I think I’m going to be OK,’ and every day I just started getting better and better.”

She said she was determined to not live her life in a wheelchair, and with the guidance, support and care of the staff at the rehabilitation hospital, she made it out better than expected.

“I walked out of here,” Chandell said. “And every one of these people is literally like my family. I come and visit because I love them.”

She said she feels she was meant to go through this ordeal.

"Maybe it wasn’t for me, but it was for someone else. I think I’m just supposed to inspire people," she said. "I feel like I’m here to tell people."

Chandell shared this journey of hope and recovery during the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Northwest's 10th anniversary celebration.

She was among many others who had their own brushes with death and lived to tell their tales.

Former patient Kevin Kuban, who played a few Christmas songs with his wife, Heidi Kuban, said the hospital and the staff are incredible.

"They're the love of God," he said. "They raised me from the dead. I should have been a goner."

In a decade of serving the community and those who travel from afar for specialty treatment and care, the rehabilitation hospital has served at least 6,800 patients. It is the only inpatient rehabilitation hospital in North Idaho. The hospital has received accolades for its exemplary standards of care through earning the Joint Commission Disease — Specific Certification in Stroke and Amputee rehabilitation, affirming its expertise and specialized approach in treating these conditions.

Anna-Liisa Pjesky, COO, said it's hard to know exactly how the hospital has impacted people through the years until they return and show how amazing they are doing.

“The feeling, there’s nothing that equates to it, when you look at that person and you go, 'I actually helped make a difference in that life,'" she said. "It’s really cool because it’s so many people that create that tribe around that person so that they can go off and be functional citizens and do bigger and better things."

That support is overwhelmingly appreciated by families like the Rasmussens.

“It’s hard when it’s your child and you don’t think it should happen," Darreld Rasmussen said, after receiving a big hug from a staff member who helped with his daughter's care.

"If I were to do it all over again, I would bring her back here because the people here are unbelievable," he said. "They’re honestly life friends. There’s people behind the scenes who do their jobs as well, but there’s four or five people that really stood out that took care of her. Those are the kind of people that stick in my head forever."

    Former Rehabilitation Hospital of the Northwest patient Chandell Rasmussen, 27, shares her story Wednesday evening as friends, family and staff members celebrate the hospital's 10-year anniversary.
  

    Former Rehabilitation Hospital of the Northwest patient Kevin Kuban and wife Heidi Kuban perform Christmas songs Wednesday evening during a celebration of the hospital's 10th anniversary.