On June 26, Cade Janke of Wayne, was working on his family’s farm, just as he does daily.
A passing semitrailer struck Cade while riding their ATV. He was ejected and the accident left him with brain trauma, left-sided facial fractures, swelling in the left shoulder and significant road rash.
He was taken to Providence Medical Center in Wayne, before transferring to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Doctors there placed Cade in a medically induced coma to reduce the pressure and swelling in his brain. Three weeks later, Cade arrived at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals’ specialized brain injury program, walking on his own.
Cade progressed very quickly. He was completing all of his self-cares independently and participated in a specific vision therapy plan, as that was one of his biggest challenges remaining.
Since he had also demonstrated significant progress in his mobility, his care-team found creative ways to build his strength and stamina. Cade spent time with Madonna’s grounds crew, trimming bushes and trees and filling in holes, simulating the hands-on, daily labor he was familiar with on the farm.
After 10 days at Madonna, Cade returned home to Wayne. Later, in outpatient therapy, he completed his vision therapy and driver re-training program in just three days.
The following is information provided by Emily Adams, OTD, OTR/L, CBIS, a Madonna inpatient occupational therapist who worked with Cade.
"When Cade first arrived at Madonna, he was still going between some of the confused/frustrated/appropriate state of recovery where he was very willing to work in our sessions and overall agreeable, but needing that ongoing encouragement from his family and therapy team to recognize the benefit of going through our inpatient rehabilitation program.
"At times it was hard for him to keep pushing forward and "look at the big picture" and needing reminders on the journey he has already been on and the great progress he continued to make," Adams said.
"He was such a joy to work with and after a few days, I think we gained his trust and his personality started to shine through. He was pretty quiet at first and by the end he was greeting us with smiles and seemed to enjoy bantering back and forth with us therapists and joking around and liked to ask, "So I can probably go home sooner right?" with his ornery smile. He made progress very quickly!
"He came in already ambulating well and completing all of his self-cares with supervision and quickly progressed to completing independently within a few days. He quickly saw our neuro-optometrist, Dr. Bohl, who was able to give me a more specific vision therapy plan which we quickly incorporated into our daily sessions as this was one of his biggest deficits remaining and needing some work," Adams said.
"He also made good progress in this area and demonstrating increased insight overall into these areas of difficulty and was excited to be back closer to home but then continue to work back in our rehab day program. We were also able to begin some return to work tasks where he went outside with our maintenance crew to help fill holes and trim larger bushes which I could tell he enjoyed being back outside and doing more hands on labor as he was used to working back on his farm daily. We had the opportunity to take him fishing his last day of therapy which he told us felt so nice to get out of the hospital and get some fresh air. "
"We were able to accomplish so much in the 1-1.5 weeks he was with us and he had such a supportive family which truly makes a difference! He was more than willing to try whatever we challenged him with and that will continue to help with his recovery in the long run," Adams added.
The Wayne FFA Chapter hosted a Glow Run/Walk on Aug. 4 with proceeds going to the Janke family.
Cade and his parents, Chad and Pam, along with a number of other family members were able to be a part of the event.
