Dark Valleys, Strong Faith, and Life with Paralysis at Age 60

Few stories could illustrate how fragile life is more vividly than Kate Kongkwan Kosaka’s.

In September 2024, Kate experienced a life-changing fall while walking her 3 dogs. At 59 years old, the music teacher and mom became paralyzed from the neck down.

Over the course of the following year, Kate would experience strong community support and faith paired with devastating losses, culminating in a valley so dark that she almost ended her own life.

The woman who emerged from that darkness is rediscovering her life with profound strength, gratitude, courage, and faith.

In this blog post, we’ll share her family’s diligent updates documenting what a first year looks like after a spinal cord injury, a breakdown of why Kate had to start fundraising for uncovered paralysis expenses, and Kate’s firsthand reflections on life with paralysis.

Timeline: First 211 Days After Kate’s Spinal Cord Injury

It is telling that Kate’s husband, Mark, and sons, Tim (28) and Jon (24), addressed their first community update letter to the dedicated music teacher’s beloved students.

In subsequent updates, they took their community inside Kate’s heart and mind as they covered key milestones, setbacks, and transitions over her first year post-injury.

Week 2: First letter to the community about Kate’s injury.
Week 3: Minimal pain, better sleep, aiming to wean off ventilator. Received gastronomy tube. Began to feel sensation in fingers and toes.
Week 4: Regained C4 muscle sensation. Transitioning to eating by mouth. First time out of a bed in 29 days.
Week 5: Transition to Craig Hospital for rehab. Start preparing home and vehicle for accessibility. 1 month of family stay at Craig for husband Mark & son Jon.
Week 6: Rehab begins. Able to use sip-and-puff wheelchair. Eating solid food. Weaning off ventilator. Able to speak for 15 minutes.
Week 7: 2^nd week of rehab. Ongoing speech and breathing training.
Week 8: 3^rd week of rehab. Beginning use of FES bike to stimulate muscles plus stretching classes and service dog meetings.
Week 9: 4^th week of rehab. Setback – Kate required to continue use of ventilator and medical team believes she will not ever be able to wean off.
Week 10: 5^th week of rehab. Focus on performing day-to-day tasks. Controlling phone with eye movement, texting, using internet, and using apps.
Week 11: 6^th week of rehab. Managing health, including blood pressure, headaches, fatigue, and medications.
Week 12: 7^th week of rehab. More comfortable sleep, less dizziness, and less tension in neck and shoulders. Thanksgiving 2024.
Week 13: 8^th week of rehab. Favorite week since the accident for Kate: cooking, crafting, and playing games with family. More time on phone calls. Caregiving skills training for family members–dressing, bathing, transfers, cough assistance.
Week 16: “Her room’s music playlist is filled with songs of praise 24×7 despite the incredible suffering she is experiencing.” Christmas 2024.
Week 17: Kate considers transition to hospice care instead of transitioning home and begins requesting withdrawal of life support.
Week 18: Renewed strength, community support, and Kate’s new decision to transition home instead.
Week 20: Sets new record of breathing on her own for 11 hours. Medical team describes it as a miracle. Transitioning to long-term acute care hospital.
Week 25: Kate’s husband passes away unexpectedly. Fundraising begins with Help Hope Live with focus on transitioning home, caregiving, and an accessible vehicle.
Week 30: Kate returns home after 211 days in hospital.

What Insurance Covered and Didn’t Cover After a Spinal Cord Injury

Here are the expenses that Kate’s insurance covered after her life-changing spinal cord injury:

Durable medical equipment
Medical supplies for home use
Medically necessary part-time or intermittent skilled nursing care—for example, nursing care for pressure sores or surgical wounds
Patient and caregiver education on SCI care
Physical, occupational, and speech-language pathology therapies

And here are the expenses that Kate’s insurance would not cover after her spinal cord injury:

24/7 caregiving (needed for Kate’s level of injury)
Home renovations for wheelchair access
A wheelchair accessible van
Co-pays, premiums, and deductibles for covered medical costs

Kate’s family was told to expect an out-of-pocket cost of $150,000 to bring her home from the hospital.

Her post-injury annual care costs were estimated to be around $300,000 out of pocket.

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Kate’s Story: A Leisurely Walk Becomes a Life-Changing Accident

I took my dogs out for their walk, just like any other day, to the park near my house. I must have tripped over something, and I fell forward with my arms stretched out.

Immediately, I couldn’t feel my arms and legs.

Fortunately, there were some people outside their houses nearby, so I shouted for help. Those nice neighbors came, and I asked them to call my son Jon, my husband Mark, and 911. Within a short time, everyone arrived, and an ambulance took me to the hospital.

The medical team determined that the fall had damaged my spine, leaving me paralyzed from the shoulders down.

How My Community Responded to My Injury

Jon was at work when he got my call, and when he heard me yelling for help over the phone, he rushed out and sped to my location. My husband rushed over from our home to the park. After hearing what happened, my other son Tim flew from Maryland to see me as soon as he could.

My brother, sister, niece, and nephew all flew to visit me from Bangkok. My brother visited me 5 times and my sister 2 times between September 2024 and April 2025.

I’m so blessed to be surrounded by family who love me.

It was important to us to continue to share updates with the community. I know that my family and friends love me so much, and I wanted to share my condition at each stage of this process so that they could stay updated and pray with specificity for me as time went on and my condition changed.

My wider community wanted to visit right away, but they could not visit safely due to my condition at the time. So, instead, they sent messages, letters, cards, gifts, prayers, and words of encouragement. Loved ones started a “meal train” to help support my family.

Even strangers, children and adults, who had heard about me sent their support. One young man from Thailand who I had never met wrote a song based on Psalm 23 and dedicated it to me.

Why My Life Almost Ended

In the beginning, I could not believe what was happening.

I thought paralysis was a nightmare that would go away when I woke up.

There were times when it was hard to fully comprehend my reality. I was hit with the news that doctors did not expect me to get better.

Faced with the reality of it, I felt like I would not be able to handle it. The breathing assistance and mechanical life support I was receiving and the limitations surrounding that dependence made it difficult for me to want to continue to live.

I didn’t want to be a burden to my children. I felt that I would not be able to have a quality life again.

I wanted to rest in Jesus, in a place where I knew I wouldn’t have to feel any more limitations, and sleep peacefully.

However, my family urged me to stay. My son Jon begged me to stay at least until his next birthday, and so I agreed.

My plan was to go into hospice care officially on January 6, 2025. Several things happened the weekend before that date arrived.

First, we had unexpected visitors: 3 men we didn’t know came to my room and shared their testimonies of how they were paralyzed just like me but regained their functions back over time. Today, they can talk, walk, and move independently.

Second, in addition to my husband and children, my brother—who has been my best friend since birth—encouraged me to reconsider.

He told me that while I may consider myself a burden to my children, leaving them would be more of a burden on them.

In the end, I could not leave them.

There are still limitations that I struggle with—now that the weather is nice, I often wish I could just easily go outside and enjoy nature.

What started as a challenge has now become my reality. I have to accept it.

My Husband’s Legacy

When Mark prayed, he always thanked God for me and the boys. He never took God’s blessings for granted. He valued our sons more than anything else—he was always so proud of them.

He was quick to laugh. Over the past few years, after he retired, we traveled to many countries together and taken enjoyable cruise trips.

He was grateful for so many things, big and small.

When I was staying at Craig Hospital for rehab, Mark would wake up early every day and walk from the family housing area to my hospital room to feed me breakfast. He would say to me, “I can’t live without you, Kate.”

Mark planned to plant a garden in my name and give the produce to people at our church. He wanted to write a book about his experiences taking care of me, hoping that it would help others facing the same situation.

Turning Community Support into Financial Help

When my husband passed away, my son Tim took over the process of helping to prepare for my return home. He got started on the transition immediately and did a really good job.

As we reached 6 months past my injury, we needed caregiving that would not be covered by insurance as well as home renovations and an accessible van. That’s why fundraising became a part of our lives.

As of March 2025, the community has raised over $180,000 to assist with these and other paralysis-related expenses.

I am beyond grateful for the love and generosity of my community.

It encourages me so much that I can’t even put it into words.

Music and Faith

I started learning piano at age 4, so music has always been a part of me.

I believe music is a universal language that can be enjoyed by all.

I began teaching harp and piano almost 30 years ago, and I have taught more than 300 students ranging from age 4 to retired adults.

I have always told my students that music is a gift they can share with anyone.

My favorite video performance is Great Is Thy Faithfulness—a hymn that speaks of God’s unwavering mercy and compassion, even in the midst of suffering:

I grew up in a loving Christian family (Seventh-Day Adventist) with the best parents, the best older sister, and the best older brother! I started serving as a church organist at age 16, and I have served in the music department pretty much throughout my life.

I’ve always felt like God’s favorite child. I see so many of God’s blessings throughout my life.

As I put my two boys through homeschooling, my goal was to raise them as good people who put God first. My faith has taught me to seek God for guidance and to treat every day as an opportunity for ministry.

As a music teacher, I prayed for each of my students individually—not for their music, but for their wellbeing, because I care about them.

However, after my injury, I felt that my faith truly strengthened.

I have a lot more time to reflect on how little I can do on my own and how much I need to rely on God.

My prayer is that I can continue to be a blessing to at least one person each day.

When I first realized that I was paralyzed, one of my first thoughts was that I could no longer play music as a ministry for God. That made me feel useless—music ministry has always been a part of my life. I prayed that God could use me in other ways.

Since the injury, people have told me that my courage is an inspiration to them, or that my faith and willingness to fight serves as a testimony to them.

That makes me feel like God can still use me for good.

I started a prayer ministry on my own, taking time to pray for every person I could think of individually—my family members and relatives, friends from different churches, childhood friends, teachers, the medical team who took care of me, my caregivers, and anyone else I could think of.

I would pray for a small group each day. These things have helped me through the dark valleys.

One of my favorite Bible verses is Psalm 23:4: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”

One of my favorite hymns says, “Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say: it is well with my soul.”

When I am weak, God is strong and will help me through difficult times. Life on Earth is temporary and short. When Jesus comes to take us home in heaven, I believe we will be made perfect and united with our loved ones again.

Life Before and After Paralysis

Before this injury, my mornings would typically begin with a Bible devotion and taking my dogs out for their first walk. After that, I would play my piano and harp, exercise, sew, garden, assemble jigsaw puzzles, paint, build model houses, or complete mosaics.

One of my favorite hobbies was handwriting. I would copy books of the Bible in Chinese, Thai, or cursive English. At the time of my injury, I was in the middle of the Book of John, writing in Thai.

Some days, I would go out and have lunch with my husband or friends. In the afternoons, I would teach my students, who would meet me in my music studio. Finally, in the evening, I would walk my dogs again.

Today, following my morning health routines, I listen to the Bible and some sermons and pray. After, I will get out of bed and into my wheelchair, eat breakfast, and work on some of my new hobbies.

I am currently learning how to speak and read Japanese, painting with a mouthstick, playing puzzle games using the eye-tracking featuring on my phone, chatting online, and talking on the phone to friends and family. I’m able to talk all day, and I no longer need to mouth my words.

Sometimes I am able to go to church in-person instead of watching online, go to the park, or visit a restaurant.

Even small things, like being able to eat whatever I want, make me grateful.

God has blessed me with 2 really wonderful sons who take good care of me and love me unconditionally. I ask them if I am too much of a burden, and they just say, “You took care of us when we were young. Now it’s our turn to take care of you.”

Nurses and doctors everywhere I go have told me that I have the best children—I’m beyond grateful for them.

I am glad to be out of the hospital and back home, not only with my children but with my puppies as well.

I still enjoy listening to music and imagining playing it in my mind.

What Hope Means to Me

I believe in hope, and in miracles. I believe that God will heal me in His time. Perhaps He still has things for me to do and learn.

Back when I first decided to return home instead of going into hospice care, I restarted the process of weaning, or breathing without assistance from a ventilator, a few minutes at a time.

My previous record was 5 minutes. That day, I breathed for 2 hours.

The next day, it was 3 hours. The day after, 4 hours. Then 8 hours. Then 11 hours.

The medical team was shocked. Several people called it a miracle or divine intervention. I am hoping to resume the weaning process when I meet my new medical support team this month.

I recently went to see my surgeon, who had operated on me 9 months prior when I was injured. He informed me that I was now classified as a C5 spinal cord injury instead of a C2A spinal cord injury.

Doctors had not seen much cause for hope for recovery for me during my rehab experiences. My surgeon now says that if I continue to improve, I may be able to be taken off a ventilator so that I can breathe and talk entirely on my own.

God’s miracles can come in small, incomplete pieces.