Institute Therapist Brendan Smith, OTR is pictured with her former patient Lauren Henderson. Lauren recently graduated from film school and is working as an intern for Steven Spielberg.

Believe in Miracles

Just about everyone at The Rehabilitation Institute believes in miracles. But more than a few had their doubts when we met 19-year old Lauren Henderson. "To tell you the truth," says Lauren's occupational therapist Brendan Smith, "when I first saw her, I said, dear God please let me help her. I didn't know if we could."

But we did…beyond our wildest dreams.

Lauren was 11 when she began experiencing severe abdominal and joint pain with extreme sensitivity to light. For years, as her condition worsened to the point she was comatose, health professionals remained baffled by her symptoms. Finally, a new doctor identified the cause, a rare metabolic disorder known as porphyria. With treatment over the next year, slowly, Lauren grew more alert.

Then, one evening as her father lifted her from wheelchair to bed, out of nowhere, she felt her leg move. Lauren, her parents and sister were mesmerized, sitting there, staring, waiting, hoping it would move again. A half hour later, it did. Lauren had been told the damage to her nervous system was irreversible. That it was unlikely she would ever walk or use her arm again. But for Lauren, a toe that could move meant only one thing: all was not lost.

The following Monday, she called The Rehabilitation Institute. Two weeks later, arriving in a power wheelchair, her arm too painful to touch resting on a squishy pillow, legs nearly paralyzed, a tube protruding from her stomach, she began therapy.

Her first goal, Brendan remembers, was simply to tolerate being touched. "I was afraid to even set a goal for movement," says Brendan. "But we don't give up. We set intermediate goals and, hopefully, the longer-term goals kick in."

Lauren, on the other hand, had a long-term goal all along: to move to Los Angeles and attend film school. Her parents would let her, but only if she could walk. Says Lauren: "I knew I wanted to move to LA, and I knew I was tired of this. If my body was going to let me improve at all, I was going to maximize how much I improved."

Six months after starting therapy, Lauren walked out of The Rehabilitation Institute. Last December, she graduated from the Los Angeles Film School. This summer, she began an internship with Steven Spielberg's on the new Indian Jones movie. That's courage. That's perseverance - and that's why at The Rehabilitation Institute we believe in miracles.