Ron and Sue: Father-Daughter Volunteer Duo Give Back in Gratitude for a “Miracle”

“Gaylord Hospital got Sue on her way to a miracle,” claims 86-year-old Ron Monforte. “That’s all there is to it.”
 

In 2006, Ron’s daughter Susan Fazzino – then 45 – was walking by her father’s side when she indicated that she suddenly wasn’t feeling well. 

“She passed out and dropped to the ground,” her father recalled. “I went to grab her, but she hit her head hard on the concrete floor.”

Still unconscious by the time they reached the emergency room, Sue was rushed into surgery to repair the massive brain bleed that threatened her life. Ron remembers walking into her hospital room after the five-hour operation. Seeing Sue lying motionless and surrounded by the beeping machines keeping her alive, he said, was a stark contrast to the vivacious daughter he was walking alongside earlier that day.  

“It was heartbreaking,” he recalled. “I counted 17 wires, tubes, and drains hanging out of her … I’ll never forget that.”

Sue showed few signs of improvement during her six-week ICU stay. “She would make eye contact but that’s about it,” said Ron. “So, we brought her to Gaylord Hospital in the hopes of a miracle.”

“The first few weeks, she wouldn’t talk or walk, so her surgeon at Yale suggested she get a shunt to relieve more pressure from her brain. After that, she returned to Gaylord with more of a spark and things started to progress from there.”

Ron recalled the day his daughter spoke for the first time in nearly three months.
 
“I was bringing Sue back from therapy and I accidentally wheeled her past her room. All of a sudden, she shouted, ‘Dad, where the h*** are you going?’”

“I couldn’t believe it,” he recalled. “I asked a nurse down the hall, ‘You heard that, right?’ And, of course, she heard her. Everyone on that floor could hear her … loud and clear! Sue was back in town!” he laughed.

Though she wouldn’t speak again for several more weeks, the fleeting moment was all her family needed to reassure them that Sue was finally on the path to recovery.

“Everyone at Gaylord was genuinely invested in her wellbeing. The nurses constantly chatted with Sue, encouraging her to talk. They’d say, ‘Sue, I know you’re in there. Tell me about it … I know you want to say it.’ Even the unit secretary would come into her room and read to her at night,” he said.

“The encouragement that Gaylord Hospital gave my daughter was so incredible that I made a promise to go back and volunteer when Susan was doing better.”

Shortly after Sue’s six-month stay at Gaylord, Ron fulfilled his vow and returned to the hospital as a patient transport volunteer. Ron didn’t come alone. Accompanying him that day was Sue, who began her years-long volunteer commitment as a Gaylord gift shop volunteer and, more recently, alongside her father in patient transport.

Both Ron and Sue are well-aware that their volunteer roles transcend bringing patients to and from their therapy and medical appointments within the hospital. More importantly, the “dynamic duo” – as they are known to staff and patients – are beacons of hope by sharing their own recovery story with others.

“I want to give the patients the same kind of encouragement that the staff showed to Sue during her hospitalization,” said Ron. “I like to build up the patients’ confidence and tell them how much progress I see them making.”

“I tell them that I was in this place, too,” said Sue. “I say, ‘I have a TBI, but I can still do this and you will, too,’” she said.

“I want people with brain injuries to realize that they can still give back … and to have hope for their recovery, just like Gaylord gave me.”