17-07-2025
Boonville woman raises awareness of GBS
BOONVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) — After 89 days in the hospital and being taken off a ventilator not once but twice, one woman is opening up about her battle with GBS and how it gave her a brand new outlook on life.
Lindsey Patton is 38, married and has two young children. But in April, her legs completely gave out.
'It's absolutely terrifying,' Patton said. 'Like I had said earlier, it's the only way that I could describe it is literally being locked inside of your own body.'
Patton went to the hospital and was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a condition where the immune system attacks the nerves resulting in Patton not being able to walk.
'It was kind of disheartening having to go through all of that because in the back of my mind, I was like, this is just my new normal,' Patton said. 'This is the way it's going to be now. Like, I'm not going to be able to walk. I'm not going to be able to go play with my kids. I'm not going to be able to. I love horseback riding and kayaking. I was like, I'm never going to do this stuff again.'
Patton says it's amazing to walk on her own again after going from intensive care to outpatient therapy all after being on a ventilator twice.
She's emphasizing how her support system of her family and mother helped motivate her to get better including her seven-year-old son.
'He had seen me because I had started doing like transfers from my wheelchair to like to the bed or to the recliner or whatever,' Patton said. 'I started doing that on me own and he was sitting in my bedroom with me that way and he said mom, he said, I just want to let you know you're making really good progress, and I'm so proud of you.'
Patton is now reaching out wanting to connect others who are battling the same condition knowing first-hand how isolating it can be for the person fighting and the ones who are helping give care.
'Unless you have been through it as a patient or you've been through as a mother, watching your child go through it, I couldn't imagine watching my own kids go through it and have to I mean, it's just really hard to understand unless you've been there,' Patton said.
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