Sherle Webb-Robins, now an Anacortes resident, has a computer science degree and was a general manager for a software company when she was involved in a severe car accident ten years ago. In the aftermath of the accident, Webb-Robins coped with physical, cognitive, and emotional issues stemming from damage to her brain and neck. After three years, 19 doctors and an ever-changing concoction of painkillers and muscle relaxers, Webb-Robins was told to accept her “new normal.”
Her new normal was anything but normal. She was unable to maintain her responsibilities as a tech-industry executive; she had to minimize her social life; and many of her hobbies proved too demanding for her traumatized mind and body. “When you live with massive pain, you completely succumb to it,” Webb-Robins shares as she recalls also dealing with bouts of anxiety and depression. “I had no hope of ever getting better.”
Webb-Robins made the difficult decision to live a slower-paced life. “I knew that wherever we moved, there would need to be a hospital that could take care of me.” In 2016, Webb-Robins moved to Anacortes in part because of the care she could receive at Island Hospital. Under the direction of Dr. Rob Billow in Island Hospital’s Sports and Spine Clinic, Webb-Robins has been able to manage her daily pain level to the point of recovering pieces of her former life. “I didn’t believe it was possible to regain my quality of life. I still have a ways to go, but I am hopeful. My hope is that others too will believe that what once seemed impossible may actually be possible.”
When you make a donation to the Island Hospital Foundation, you ensure your family, friends and neighbors, like Sherle, have access to important healthcare, right here in your community.