When a sudden bacterial illness resulted in multiple amputations and near loss of life for Hugh Gerlach, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, provided intensive rehabilitation to restore his life quality.
After five weeks of working with prosthetics under the center’s care — now two years ago — Gerlach expressed gratitude and perseverance.
“I’m just fortunate to be alive after everything I went through,” Gerlach said in a press release. “My entire medical and rehabilitation teams at Wake Forest Baptist became like family to me and were instrumental in helping me adjust to my new life.”
With the hospital’s intervention, Gerlach was even able to return to his profession — operating gymnastics academies in Virginia — despite losing both hands, his right leg and part of his left foot.
“Hugh is truly an inspiration to those of us who have been by his side during his journey,” Dr. Walter Davis, associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Wake Forest Baptist, said. “His positive outlook on life gives hope and encouragement to many people who are now going through what he faced two years ago.”
Wake Forest Baptist’s Rehabilitation Services has provided rehabilitation and physical therapy for 35 years to those recovering from traumatic injury, disease and surgery.
