Shey Hannum is recuperating

Anyone that knows Shey Hannum knows that she is a fighter from her days as a standout Thompson Falls athlete. Her competitive spirit, her passion for trying her hardest was always on full display when she was a Lady Hawk, be it in volleyball, basketball or track and field, and she earned All-State honors in all three of those sports as a result.

Shey, pronounced ‘Shy,’ now needs to tap into that willingness to fight as she is recovering from the effects of spinal surgery after she broke two vertebrae in her neck in a swimming accident on the Little Blackfoot River earlier this month. She has been suffering from partial paralysis ever since the mishap although she has showed steady improvement following the surgery.

After a four-hour surgical procedure which removed one of the broken vertebrae and fused the other one to an adjacent vertebrae with a titanium plate in Missoula after the accident, Shey has since been moved to St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute in Spokane.

“Shey is doing really well with her rehab,” her step mother Sara Bache Hannum said Tuesday. “She does not have full function yet, but she was probably in the best shape of her life, ridiculous physical shape at the time of the accident, so her core is really strong. And her spirits are good, she is really working hard to get better.”

Sara, who said friends are welcome to visit Shey in Spokane, says that the rehabilitation program at St. Luke’s is intense. “It’s kind of like a job, one task to the next all day,” she said.

Shey’s insurance has been good for much of the medical procedures and hospital stay, but the expenses are still piling up on her and her family.

In order to offset some of those costs, a GoFundMe page for “Shey’s Road to Recovery” has been created on Facebook and donations are definitely welcome. Sara said a Fun Run benefit for later this summer, where the proceeds will go towards Shey’s recovery program, is also being planned by her friends.

Although understandably sore at the surgery site on her neck, Sara said Shey is not backing down from the challenge of fully regaining her mobility. Some feeling has returned to her left leg, which was numb up to four days ago, and her fine motor skills in her hands have not returned yet, but Sara says Shey is not about to let this go without a fight.

“The doctors say it is about attitude, that it is up to the individual to really work at it,” she said. “And Shey is super positive about her rehab, she is just so competitive. When it comes to something like this, she is stubborn, she will keep trying no matter what.”

Shey was good athlete in high school, so good in fact, she ended up going to Montana State University and became a member of the Lady Bobcat track and field team before giving that up to focus on her academics this past January.

“Sports turn into a job for college athletes,” Sara offered. “She enjoyed her time doing it but really wasn’t able to concentrate on her studies as much as she would have liked.”

Shey celebrated her 21st birthday Monday with family and friends in a hospital bed. For those who would like to help, what better way to give her a birthday present than going to her GoFundMe site and making a donation?

She is thankful for all the support she is receiving. “People have been great,” Sara said, “and Shey wants them to know that she really appreciates all the calls, emails and cards she has received.”