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“I don't think I would have done as well if I would have had staff that didn't communicate as effectively as they do” Destiny Shelton lay in a hospital bed for almost 7 months, uncertain if she’d ever reclaim the life she once had. She knew the illness which had brought her near death may have also killed any chance of a normal future with her two children. But what she didn’t know was that the therapy team at Hunt Regional deals in uncertainties all the time. And that they specialize in changing the future. A critical moment After undergoing weight-loss surgery at a metroplex hospital, Destiny Shelton hoped to regain the energy and confidence needed to live a full life with her two young children. Instead, complication after complication arose, leaving Destiny in and out of the hospital, never fully healing. Two months after her surgery, Destiny’s condition took a turn for the worse. While visiting her parents, she didn’t get out of bed for days; she stopped eating and eventually stopped responding at all. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Destiny’s parents called for emergency help. When she arrived at Hunt Regional Medical Center in Greenville, the emergency department staff discovered that Destiny was in 4 / healthbeat /
much worse shape than she or any of her family members knew. “I had two leaks in my stomach and one at the bottom of my esophagus. I was in septic shock, my organs and kidneys were shutting down, and one of my lungs had collapsed,” said Destiny. Critically ill, she was careflighted to Dallas where she would begin the fight for her life. Destiny had no idea at the time that it would be three months before she returned and that when she did, her journey would only be halfway through.
A long road home The life-saving measures performed by the medical
