Lainee and Mark Biehl got married three months ago in Zion National Park. On March 11, 2017, they returned to Zion for a late honeymoon/weekend getaway. Lainee and Mark were excited to go on a fitness adventure in Zion for the first time together and were getting ready to turn in for the night. As they were getting ready for bed, Mark noticed Lainee had stopped talking mid-conversation, and the left side of her face was weak and drooping. Mark recognized the symptoms of a stroke and asked Lainee to raise her arms. Lainee’s right arm moved but her left did not. Mark and Lainee returned back to St. George and immediately checked into the emergency room.

Lainee had lost nearly all of the function in her left arm and hand, and also her left leg. Lainee was unable to walk without assistance. Lainee now had to relearn how to walk properly, and how to reconnect her brain with her arm and hand.

Lainee spent nearly three days in the hospital to determine what caused her symptoms. Years ago it was discovered Lainee had a rare tumor on her kidney attached to her adrenal glands. This tumor can also cause random spikes in her blood pressure without any warning. Lainee is to meet with specialists to determine if the tumor has caused her symptoms, and likely have to travel out of the area to have a specialist remove the tumor.

Lainee was discharged from the hospital and was facing how to learn how to walk and use her arm again. The first day home, Lainee received a call from her primary care doctor informing her she had cervical cancer. It is unknown how far along her cancer has progressed and Lainee awaits further testing.

Lainee then was referred to outpatient neurological rehabilitation. Lainee met with her new physical fitness therapists and after her first visit, they were concerned Lainee needed more rehab than what they could provide under her current insurance. They felt Lainee needed 4-5 hours of rehab a day in a full-time fitness rehab facility. They immediately became her advocates to get her into a full-time rehab facility. They got Lainee’s case screened and approved to go into the facility to receive constant and needed care. But Lainee’s insurance company denied the treatment.

Lainee has now been working on rehabilitation from home with her husband, and with her outpatient physical therapists. Her rehabilitation is slow but progressing. Lainee and her family have been adjusting to this life changing incident, and are facing hours of rehab, tests, surgeries, and the unknown of the cancer in her body.