CU student returns where she learned to walk again
For Nicole Briar, a sickness that likely started as a mild virus turned into a neurological disorder that caused swelling in her spine, paralyzing her from the chest down and threatening her ability to walk again.
Briar, now a senior at the University of Colorado and set to graduate in May, has since fully recovered after getting sick in April 2022. On Wednesday, Briar and her parents returned to Uchealth Broomfield — where she began regaining her ability to move and walk — to thank the hospital’s workers for helping her recover.
“The doctors were very encouraging which really helped me, and they explained everything that would happen and their timeline and I am grateful for all of them and how they handled everything,” Briar said.
She said her team at Uchealth was always confident and made her feel positive about her ability to recover fully.
“I think my attitude is what helped me gain everything back,” she said.
Doctors told Briar her sickness likely began as an adenovirus, or a virus that typically causes a mild cold or flu-like illness, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Later, that illness turned into meningitis, an infection and inflammation of the fluid and membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. The meningitis, Briar said, then turned into a neurological disorder called transverse myelitis, which causes spine swelling and interrupts the messages that the spinal cord nerves send throughout the body, according to Mayo Clinic. Transverse myelitis can cause pain, muscle weakness, paralysis, sensory problems or bladder and bowel dysfunction.
Most people recover at least partially from transverse myelitis, but sometimes people are left with major disabilities or experience lingering complications.
“It was very scary because we didn’t know if she was going to be able to walk again,” her mom Beverly Briar said.
Getting help
When she got sick, Nicole Briar was living in a sorority house in Boulder, and her friends in the house knew something was wrong. They noticed she wasn’t making sense when she talked or texted and slept constantly. One day she slept until 1 p.m. and her friends tried to wake her up and give her water before calling 911.
The ambulance took her to Boulder Community Hospital where she woke up and couldn’t feel or move anything below her chest. She could move her arms and hands, but they were weak, and she could swallow.
Her dad, Keith, said it happened suddenly. He and his wife got a phone call on a normal afternoon, jumped on a plane and arrived that night to find their daughter in the ICU.
“She knew who we were but she was in and out and pretty much paralyzed,” he said. “She didn’t have any movement for seven days or so … she was super positive and we were and so was the staff, but there were lots of moments where it was very scary. We weren’t sure. It was all up in the air.”
After treatment and about a three-week stay at Boulder Commuity Hospital, doctors referred her to Uchealth in Broomfield, since Boulder Community Hospital and Uchealth are partners in a joint inpatient rehabilitation unit for people with traumatic brain and spine injuries. Briar stayed at Uchealth for just under two weeks where she worked to recover and regain her mobility.
“The staff here made me feel really confident in what I can do, and at the time, I think I was a little insecure — before this all happened — about everything in general in my life,” Briar said. “I think being here and seeing how confident they were in me made me feel confident and I think I’m a more confident person because of this.”
Marisa Leykam was Briar’s primary physical therapist and worked with her about five days a week to help her regain her ability to walk.
“I do remember her knees being really wobbly, kind of looking like a baby deer that just doesn’t quite have her legs underneath her,” Leykam said. “But she had a lot of internal drive to really push it and she made incredible progress while she was here.”
Leykam said it’s special that Nicole Briar came back to the hospital, and it is inspiring to see how far she has come.
“You never know how you’re going to react to a life-changing illness, and for a young person to go through it with such grace — she was always very kind and thankful to the people she was working with,” Leykam said.
Saying thanks
After her time at Uchealth, Nicole Briar returned home to California and continued outpatient physical therapy for about four weeks. Later that summer she was healthy enough to travel to Europe and in the fall she returned to school like normal.
Despite her illness, Nicole Briar managed to stay on top of school and will graduate on time next month alongside her friends, who visited daily and stood by her during her illness.
After graduation, Nicole Briar plans to travel with her family and find work in medical device sales or pharmaceutical sales. She wants to live in or near the San Francisco area to be close to her parents.
Beverly Briar said the three wanted to return to Uchealth and express their gratitude to the doctors and remind them of how much of a difference they made.
“It’s emotional but we just felt like it was important for us to thank the people who helped her get back to normal,” she said.