Coralville woman finds purpose in tragedy

From the top of a steep hill in Coralville, Bridgid Ruden had no idea her life was about to drastically change.

In a matter of moments, she'd no longer be training for a triathlon. She wouldn't return to work as a pediatric nurse practitioner or go home to cook dinner for her family for quite some time.

At the bottom of the hill was a patch of thick, slippery mud that would ensnare her bike, causing her to lose control and fall, landing head first onto the pavement.

'When she was going through the mud, she was screaming,' said Angie Cookman, Ruden's friend who accompanied her on the bike ride that day. 'Then she lost consciousness. ... I knew it was beyond a simple concussion.'

Despite wearing a helmet, Ruden would come-to in an ambulance, blood dripping from her ear, nose and mouth. Her right clavicle was broken, one of her lungs had collapsed and she'd fractured her sixth cervical vertebra.

She had no idea who she was, where she was or what had happened. She slipped in and out of consciousness, eventually landing in a coma for eight days.

The ambulance rushed her to the University of Iowa Hospital for emergency brain surgery. Even then, continued bleeding on her brain required a second surgery that same day.

Things didn't look good — her vitals worsened and cerebral spinal fluid regularly drained from her ear. Then, an MRI revealed she needed immediate surgery again.

Finally, she began to improve. But when she woke up, she wouldn't remember much of anything — not even the names of her three children.

She could recognize people's faces, she said, but often couldn't remember their name or how she knew them.

'There was a lot of confusion,' Ruden said. 'Every day I was in and out of shock.'

On June 16, 2008, almost a month after the accident, Ruden was transferred to UnityPoint-St. Luke's Hospital for rehabilitation. She needed physical, speech and occupational therapy to relearn basic life skills such as reading, writing, speaking and walking. Feeding, bathing and dressing herself were once again new.

The injury set her 44-year-old brain back to that of a three-year-old's, she said.

'The loss of those things were really a punch in her self-confidence,' said Marcia Akeson, a speech language pathologist who worked with Ruden in her recovery.

'At that time, she was looking at things as glass half empty instead of full,' Akeson continued. 'She always had a good attitude, but she was kind of down, thinking about what she was missing. ... She was really shaken emotionally because everything she knew had been swept out from under her.'

In addition to mental rehabilitation, Ruden also needed physical rehab for her broken clavicle and vertebrae. She had severe vertigo that made it extremely difficult to balance and caused horrible nausea, making recovery all the more difficult.

Perhaps even more challenging was having three young children — one 8-year-old, one 12 and one 15 — whose adult mother could no longer drive, cook or clean. Her youngest daughter, for example, had to teach her how to use the microwave again and remind her to wear her helmet to cover her exposed brain — her skull had been removed due to infection. In August, she received her final brain surgery and a titanium plate replaced her missing left skull.

'I had to relearn to be a mother again, that was the hardest thing,' Ruden said.

Ruden also has epilepsy as a result of the injury and has had severe seizures around her children on multiple occasions. In fact, her son once saved her life after a seizure by flipping her on her side and making sure she could breathe.

'There were a couple years there where it was stressful for the whole family,' said Todd Ruden, her husband. 'But we're stronger because of it.'

Slowly but surely, Ruden recovered many of the skills she'd lost. Doctors called her a miracle.

Nine months after the accident, she was able to jog on the treadmill. In 10 months, she was able to get back on her bike. She relearned to play the piano, dance, cook meals for her family and even drive again.

'So many people couldn't believe how rapidly I was healing,' Ruden said. 'It's because I never gave up. ... I'm a person who gives 200 percent.'

She'd hoped things would return to the way they were before the accident, but some symptoms would never disappear — including epilepsy, speech aphasia and memory issues. She's also easily fatigued and must get plenty of rest to avoid seizures, dizziness, confusion and other symptoms.

'My brain just gets fried,' she said. 'I get confused and dizzy within five hours of being awake.'

Unfortunately, Ruden will never be able to return to work as a pediatric nurse practitioner — a career she deeply loved.

'Not being able to return to her job has been very frustrating for her,' Cookman said. 'She loved children and loved to deal with patients.'

'Realizing what she's lost has been hard on her,' Todd Ruden agreed. 'But she's found another path. She found her life's purpose and that's what's important.'

Today, Ruden is an inspirational speaker and recently published her first book, 'Discovering My Life's Purpose: From Tragedy to Triumph.'

'She found a way to not let what she couldn't do interfere with what she wanted to do,' Akeson said. 'She knew she couldn't go back to work, but she wanted to help others and realized she could help others by telling her story.'

Sharing her story has not only helped her heal, but she hopes will helps others heal, too, as well as educate health care professionals to give their patient's hope — although most doctors remained positive during her recovery, some were not. In fact, one nurse told her she'd end up in a nursing home, she said.

'You've got to give people hope,' Ruden said. 'Don't pull every piece of them away. Healing takes baby steps and it has it's ups and downs. Never tell a patient they can't. Affirm them. Give them little goals and praise them. Never criticize.'

Upon meeting Ruden, it's unlikely you'd know she ever had a severe brain injury.

'She's very lucky to be where she's at. It could have ended a lot differently,' Cookman said. 'She really has turned this event over. ... Now she inspires others who may be going through this. She shows others you can overcome.'

'She's an incredible woman,' Todd Ruden said. 'She's still driven, very ambitious. Her heart's in the right spot, always looking to help people.'

GET OUT!

What: Speaking event featuring Bridgid Ruden

When: March 9, 2017

Where: Inspire Cafe, 955 Washington St. #105, Dubuque

Where to find her book: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Prairie Lights, Iowa Memorial Union Bookstore, University of Iowa Hospital Bookstore and the Book Warehouse in Williamsburg.