- Lee Catherine Hodges
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Story and Photos By: Lee Catherine Hodges
On a spring day in 2025, Jane Ann Young was settling in with a book on her porch swing when the chain suddenly snapped. She crashed to the ground, the full impact landing on her left ankle. Her book, phone and shoes flew, but she managed to pull her phone close with her shoe and call for help. Her husband, Richard, and friends rushed her to the hospital.
Jane Ann’s ankle was broken in three places. After surgery at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, she transferred to Pearl River County Hospital for swing bed care, where she began therapy with Emily Barrett, COTA and Director of Rehab, and Briana “Bree” Easley, PTA.
Unable to bear weight on her left ankle, Jane Ann felt weak and discouraged. The team started light with simple exercises and a fun, welcoming approach. Jane Ann started off in a bit of a slump, but that didn’t last long.
“I thought, ‘I’m not gonna make it. I am not gonna make it through this,’” said Jane Ann. “But they are very good encouragers. They would explain why we had to do what we were doing and what it was for. They make it so simple so you can understand.”
Because Jane Ann was so weak, occupational therapist assistant Emily Barrett spent much of their time in the early days strengthening Jane Ann’s hands and arms.
“No weightbearing on her left ankle meant we had to rely on the strength of her hands and arms for everything, especially transitioning from sitting to standing,” Emily said.
Their work with TheraBands, elastic resistance bands that help improve strength, flexibility, and joint range of motion, paid off. Jane Ann recounts the first moment she connected the work she was doing in therapy to how her body truly felt.
“I was so tickled the first day when I realized, ‘Hey, this is working!’” Jane Ann said. “I was sitting down and standing back up without holding on to anything.”
After returning home and shedding her boot, Jane Ann faced another setback. A lapse in managing her Type 2 diabetes led to a severe blood sugar spike and diabetic coma. Having dealt with her diabetes diagnosis for more than 25 years, Jane Ann was no stranger to proper diet and preferred glucose monitoring schedules. But, in all the excitement of getting back home after her ankle surgery and recovery, her body’s needs went on the back burner.
“Nobody hardly ever makes it out of that when it’s that high, so the Lord was waking me up there, I feel like. I did it to myself, I’m afraid.” Jane Ann said.
Once her glucose levels were stabilized, Jane Ann returned to Pearl River to rebuild her strength and balance. With a chatty, comfortable approach, Emily and Bree got Jane Ann back on her feet for the second time.
“Bree and I like to make it fun for our patients because we want them to enjoy coming to therapy, not dread coming to therapy,” Emily said. “We tried to make it as comfortable and homey for Jane Ann as we could.”
The teamwork paid off, and Jane Ann was amazed not only at the efforts of her therapy team but also the staff at Pearl River overall. It was a full-circle experience for Jane Ann, being cared for at the hospital, since she worked her very first job in the front office there when she was only 17.
“I don’t think I have a single complaint about this place,” she said. “I have never seen anybody work together better.”
Now stronger and committed to managing her health, Jane Ann looks ahead with gratitude for her recovery and the team who helped her through it.
“It was actually fun. We had so much fun to be hurting so bad,” Jane Ann said. “You just don’t know how I missed them when I left.”
