It’s July 2024. The balloons and streamers are getting cleared, and Kylee Mueller is headed back home, at long last, to Wayne, Nebraska. The goodbyes and well-wishes are the perfect cap off to a long road of nine months of in-depth rehabilitation for a stroke that had resulted from a chiropractic appointment. You ask any member of the team there that day, and they could tell you with confidence that her future is bright.
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It’s July 2025, and the conversations planning for Kylee to return to QLI are happily underway. A phrase commonly thrown around is “boot camp” for whenever a QLI client returns to campus for an additional refresher program. Sometimes the impetus is characterized by the need to course-correct after time at home following discharge fosters a desire for more progress. The adjustment at home allows for the questions started at QLI to take hold and grow—what do I want to do? What do I want to work on now? For her return, Kylee was the spark, desiring to take the next step or three in her injury recovery with a team that knew her inside and out, and could both provide the necessary support and challenge as she continued onwards.
Kylee stayed in touch with many on her team and reached out to speech language pathologist Zoey Bertsch to set things in motion. “When Kylee was at QLI in 2024,” Zoey recalls, “her core focus was rebuilding functionality, starting the path towards getting back to what she lived before her injury.” A few of these things included a transition back towards a regular diet, spending intensive clinical sessions to stand once more, and being able to walk supported with a gait belt. Kylee gained her voice back—building lasting connections with fellow clients and team members by establishing a Friday coffee group.
Now, Kylee’s push towards greater independence looks like a myriad of things, but all in service towards instilling a greater purpose that she’d been proud to build. Back home in Wayne, she was an inviting manager at a Casey’s General Store. Further, she felt the importance of getting an emotional support dog, leading to Ryder—a boisterous Bernedoodle—entering her life. With her progress from the first time at QLI, plus the tangible goals linking back to her everyday life, the stage was set for Kylee’s boot camp, though something like “turbo charge” might be a more appropriate term. This wasn’t Kylee relearning and garnering refreshers, but rather a concerted effort to continue the marathon of recovery with a smile, knowing that she had all the tools of success.
The strategies were devised in such a way that Kylee could master small-scale activities on QLI’s campus, translating these in confidence to the wider world. On her own initiative, while home in Wayne, Kylee began volunteering at a thrift store owned by her aunt and cousin, sticking to back-of-house duties. But the ever-present manager and jovial customer service drive never left. Working with Zoey and the team, Kylee developed strategies to first simulate novel interactions, making a regular, concerted effort to meet and greet those around QLI with whom she was not familiar. A physical therapy component worked in
concert with these efforts. Kylee returned to QLI in 2025, having grown comfortable utilizing a rollator walker. The team collaborated to take this to the next level, getting Kylee to walk without a walker, instead using two crutches.
All these strategies and efforts may have been good in a vacuum, but it was important to Kylee to get some real-world experience. Tip Top Thrift Shop in Benson was contacted. Zoey and Kylee went out together, with Kylee getting greater driving experience through her work with occupational therapist Madie Otte. The result? Kylee chatted with customers, directing and advising them towards their next thrifty find. And not once, Kylee reflected with a smile, did she have to repeat herself. Her voice was loud, clear, and confident.
Walking, talking, and “oh yeah,” laughs Kylee. “Ryder.” The good boy awaited her return—and even when it came to things like dog care, and simulating the tasks and routines Kylee wanted to reestablish, the team offered a unique avenue—bringing in some team members’ dogs for Kylee to put therapy into action. Talking meant going through obedience commands, walking meant getting out around campus 
with the dogs, honing the dynamic balance required should the dog get distracted or underfoot. Even the intricate components of brushing the dogs or giving them baths offered a fusion of abilities for Kylee. To know that in getting back home she can fully resume taking care of Ryder, “makes me happy,” she says.
“The key reason why Kylee’s progressing and hitting all of her goals so quickly is not only because she’s motivated to do so, but also that she has a team behind her that can quickly collaborate to make things happen,” says Zoey. As Kylee heads back to Wayne once again, new goals are waiting for her. And she’ll get to them. Plateau? Never heard of her.
