Mary Ford knows a thing or two about taking care of people. The 88-year-old Scrabble player and church choir singer raised seven children with her husband, and later took care of him when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Watching him go through his diagnosis and treatment made her nervous about ever having to entrust herself to someone else’s care. So when she was hospitalized for a stroke, Ford was uneasy about the experience.

It was difficult for her to be alone in an unfamiliar place. But once Ford and her family got to know the inpatient rehabilitation team at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, their worries eased.

Ford’s stroke affected the right side of her body, making it difficult for her to stand up, use her hands and even talk. An avid user of her tablet and very much a people-person, Ford did not want to give up any of her favorite things in life. She spent several weeks at Hopkins Bayview participating in physical, occupational and speech therapy.

An Unexpected Complication

A few days before Ford was to be transferred to subacute rehabilitation, she woke up with pain in her left leg. A blood clot in her superficial femoral artery was completely blocking blood flow. She was rushed to the operating room, where surgeons removed the blood clot.

Arterial blood clot in a leg can be a limb and life-threatening condition that should be addressed in minutes to hours. Thanks to the quick and accurate assessment by the rehabilitation team and the physicians on duty, Ford was in the operating room in enough time to save her leg and possibly her life.

Back to Making Progress

It’s difficult enough to regain the functions that are damaged by a stroke. Add to that an emergency surgery, and it’s no surprise that Ford felt the impact of this setback. But she was far from giving up.

“I know it takes patience; you just have to believe that you will continue to get better,” she says.

And that’s exactly what she did. “Mary made great progress improving her overall level of function. We worked to help her with her activities of daily living,” says Dana Alonzi, one of Ford’s occupational therapists.