When Eyuny Narcis Rodriguez arrived at UofL Health – Frazier Rehabilitation Institute, she was recovering from a sudden illness that had changed nearly every part of her daily life.
Just a short time earlier, the 60-year-old Louisville resident went to the emergency department at UofL Health – Mary & Elizabeth Hospital with what felt like severe lower back pain. What followed was a rapid and overwhelming progression of symptoms, including worsening pain, cramps and weakness. Before she fully understood what was happening, Rodriguez could no longer walk and her eyes were locked shut.
She was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare autoimmune condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves. In Rodriguez’s case, it was a specific form called acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy. As the condition progressed, the nerve damage spread upward through her body, eventually affecting her face and her ability to speak and swallow.
“I felt like just flesh,” Rodriguez said. “Not like a person.”
After being treated at the hospital, Rodriguez was transferred to Frazier Rehab Institute for intense inpatient rehab care. At that point, she was experiencing paralysis from her lower extremities to her face. She required full assistance for mobility, struggled to speak clearly and had difficulty eating and drinking.
At Frazier Rehab Institute, Rodriguez began working with a coordinated, comprehensive care team consisting of physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology. Her goals were simple but meaningful: to leave Frazier Rehab Institute walking, regain her independence and find her smile again.
“Everyone works together to help achieve the patient’s goals,” said Britney Johnson, M.S., CCC-SLP, Rodriguez’s speech-language pathologist. “A typical day for Eyuny often includes working with occupational therapy to get dressed and ready for the day, then speech therapy to target swallowing and communication and then later working with physical therapy in the gym. It’s a full-day, team approach, five days a week.”
At first, even small daily activities felt overwhelming for Rodriguez. Rinsing her mouth after brushing her teeth was difficult because she could not close her mouth fully. During meals, food would fall out of her mouth, and her facial weakness was so severe that she often had to hold her hand to her mouth or support her chin just to keep food in.
“I was very ashamed,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t want anyone to see me eat.”
Speech was also a challenge. Weak facial nerves made her words slurred and difficult to understand, further affecting her confidence and communication.
Speech therapy became a key part of her rehabilitation. Rodriguez’s therapy focused on improving speech clarity and strengthening the nerves involved in swallowing, particularly her lips and cheeks. Treatment included functional speech intelligibility exercises, eating and drinking motions and expiratory muscle strength training, a breathing-based therapy used to support swallowing and speech.
Because Rodriguez primarily speaks Spanish, the use of an interpreter played an important role throughout her care. During many therapy sessions, Katrina Jadick, a Spanish interpreter with UofL Health, was present to help bridge the communication gap between patient and provider, while also providing feedback to the speech therapist.
Johnson explained that Jadick is vital to the patient’s care team and that she relies on Jadick to ensure the patient’s speech is improving.
“I’m used to relying on what I hear to evaluate and treat my patients, but, with Eyuny being Spanish speaking, I relied on the translator to tell me if Eyuny’s speech was clear or not, so I could provide provider cueing and assess her progress,” Johnson said.
As therapy continued, Rodriguez’s care team also incorporated a neuromuscular electrical stimulation device called VitalStim® Plus into her speech therapy plan. The device delivers gentle electrical stimulation to specific nerves involved in swallowing and facial movement. In Rodriguez’s case, it was used to help activate her weakened facial nerve, which is needed to create a strong labial seal—essential for chewing, swallowing and producing certain speech sounds, such as B’s, P’s, M’s and W’s.
“I thought it could be a good thing to try,” Rodriguez said. “My doctor said this could be another tool Britney could use to help me get my smile back.”
Over time, progress became evident in everyday moments. One of the earliest changes her speech therapist observed was a reduction in food falling out of Rodriguez’s mouth while eating. Eventually, she no longer needed to use her hands to help keep food in. She progressed from a soft diet to regular foods and regained the ability to swish and spit water after brushing her teeth—something she could not do earlier in her recovery.
Rodriguez began eating independently again. Her speech became clearer, and her confidence gradually returned.
“At the beginning, I couldn’t understand much of what she was saying,” Jadick said. “Now, her pronunciation is so much clearer. The progress is very noticeable.”
While speech therapy addressed her swallowing and communication, physical and occupational therapy supported her broader recovery goals. When she first arrived at Frazier Rehab Institute, Rodriguez could not walk. By the time she was preparing for discharge less than a month later, she was walking with a walker.
“It makes me very happy,” she said. “I’m grateful to God and to everyone who helped me.”
Today, Rodriguez is preparing to continue therapy as an outpatient, feeling stronger, more independent and hopeful about the future. For others facing Guillain-Barré syndrome or similar challenges, she offers simple encouragement: have faith, be strong and keep going forward.
Rodriguez’s journey reflects what is possible at Frazier Rehab Institute when expert care, innovative therapy and teamwork come together. She is finding her voice, independence and the smile she thought she had lost.
The experienced team at Frazier Rehab Institute provides services in a wide variety of rehabilitation programs, including, but not limited to, brain injury, movement disorders, pediatrics, spinal cord medicine and stroke recovery. To learn more, visit UofLHealth.org/Locations/Frazier-Rehabilitation-Institute or call 502-582-7400.
