This time last year, things were going well for Jennifer Sommers of Stroudsburg, Pa. As a special education pre-K – 8 and elementary education pre-K – 4 major at Kutztown University, she saw the light at the end of the tunnel and looked forward to graduating in the spring alongside her twin brother, Tim Sommers. With her finals completed, she settled in for a normal, relaxing winter break.
“A few days into winter break I went to work at a local day care as I normally do,” Sommers said. “But I don’t remember anything from that day.”
Sommers began feeling sick at the day care, and was sent home, as it was suspected that she had the flu and the other daycare workers didn’t want to put the children at risk. Her boyfriend attempted to contact her, but was not successful. Eventually he found her passed out in her bathroom in her home.
After rushing to the hospital, doctors discovered that she was having a stroke. The stroke had occurred in a vein rather than an artery, as is usual, and was brought on by blood clots on her brain.
Sommers was medevaced to the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. There, a specialist immediately performed life-saving surgery. Afterward, Sommers was hooked up to a ventilator in intensive care through until New Year’s.
“I spent Christmas in the hospital, but I remember absolutely nothing from that time period,” Sommers recalled. “I could not walk, talk or grasp my hand, and I also had short term memory loss. I was cognitively ranked in the first percentile.”
Once she was well enough to be discharged from the hospital, Sommers’ brother, Dr. Michael Sommers, worked with her doing physical and occupational therapy every day, until she could be admitted into therapy programs.
“Michael was extremely helpful. He did all he could to help me,” Sommers said.
Sommers worked hard to get back to normal. Once she began doing physical therapy, her therapists were amazed by how much progress she was making. She spent additional time in speech therapy as she worked to regain all her abilities.
“I had to relearn everything,” Sommers said. “It was a lot of hard work.”
When she finally was able to talk again, Sommers had just one question.
“I asked them if I could go back to school in the spring,” Sommers said. “Of course, the answer was no, but all I wanted to do was meet all my education goals. To do that, I would have to work even harder to get better. So I did.”
Sommers’ doctors suspected it would be several years before she could finish school and graduate with her degree. However, with intensive physical, occupational, and speech therapy taking place over about five months, Sommers now finds herself feeling just about normal. She is ranked in the 95th percentile cognitively, and despite some deficiency in her peripherals, she is now blood clot free. Sommers says that KU was exceptionally helpful during her recovery period.
“While I was still in recovery, Kutztown worked hard to get me a student teaching placement that was close to my home. In the hospital, I received a lot of help and support from professors. Dr. Krista Varano, an elementary education professor, sent me flowers when I was in intensive care. Dr. Diane King and Dr. Debra Lynch, special education professors, called me and my family often to stay updated and check on my progress. They even helped my family get me on medical leave for the semester.”
Sommers graduated in the commencement ceremony at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014 in the O’Pake Fieldhouse at Kutztown University. As for the future, she is currently applying for special education positions in the fall.
