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AbilityLab Blog

See the latest news, updates and patient stories from Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.

Ranked No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report for 35th Consecutive Year

Shirley Ryan AbilityLab again has been recognized as the national leader in rehabilitation, topping the U.S. News & World Report list for the 35th consecutive year. It remains the only hospital of any kind to hold this distinction, and has been ranked the No. 1 rehabilitation hospital every year since 1991.

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Jacob Brewer does physical therapy at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

'I'm just thankful to be here': Lightning strike survivor recounts his 4-month journey to recovery

After surviving a lightning strike, after enduring multiple surgeries to open his shins and forearms to save him from compartment syndrome, Jacob Brewer was being treated at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in downtown Chicago where he was receiving physical and occupational therapy.

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Making a home accessible after a severe injury can be overwhelming — but it doesn’t have to be. Here’s one mom’s advice.

At Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, people arrive after lives change in minutes — a gunshot wound, a car crash, a stroke. When patients are discharged, they often need to approach their home differently. Occupational therapist Kelsey Watters said they first consider locations like the bathroom and the entry.

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Paralyzed ex-Illinois football star is down but never out

A year and a half after a life-changing accident, paralyzed former Illinois football star Bobby Roundtree opens up about loneliness, frustrations, the desire to inspire and his ultimate goal: independence.

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Nerve Damage Linked to Prone Positioning in COVID-19

Among COVID-19 patients who undergo mechanical ventilation, lying in the prone position has been associated with lasting nerve damage.

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Undefeated: Marty Hartigan lost his limbs. Then he cheered up his friends.

A year after his near-death experience, Marty Hagan, the former Stanford rugby player is coming to terms with a different life and body.

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COVID ventilator patients can have permanent nerve damage

Some COVID patients on ventilators are placed in a prone position to ease breathing, but study shows that this life-saving position can also cause permanent nerve damage.

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ABC7: Chicago coronavirus survivor returns home after 10 weeks in 2 hospitals, rehab center

It took two and a half months, but Marian Steele fought COVID-19 and won, and now she's back home.

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WBEZ: How One Chicago-Area Family Survived COVID-19

Sandy Wilson-Muriel and her mother Gladys Wilson were the first in their family to get sick with COVID-19 in mid-March.

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Specialized Immune Cells May Improve Early Detection of Parkinson’s Disease

The elevated presence of specialized immune cells called alpha-synuclein reactive T-cells found in patients prior to developing motor symptoms and receiving a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, suggests that increased reactivity of these cells may be present long before clinical diagnosis.

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Battling COVID-19: Filmmaker Spends Month in Hospital, Weeks in Rehab

Gordon Quinn couldn’t speak. But he desperately needed to tell his doctors something.

The 77-year-old world-renowned documentarian was finally off a ventilator, for the second time. He had just been helped into a sitting position for the first time in weeks. But now they were talking about putting him on a ventilator for a third time.

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