GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Progress is sucking pudding through a plastic straw.
In a therapy room that doubles as a simulated grocery store, Nour Yahya works against gravity, willing the muscles in her mouth and face to bring the chocolaty treat to her mouth.
"Are you breathing? Your face is turning red," says Megan Nickelson, Nour's speech pathologist.
Nour shakes her head. She takes a break, as well as a breath.
"Are you getting pooped or do you want to keep going?" Nickelson asks.
"Keep going," Nour says.
After another minute's worth of pulling the pudding up through the straw, Nour tastes a sweet sensation.
The simple act represents a remarkable journey of recovery for the 23-year-old from Sparta, who suffered a traumatic brain injury, broken ribs and a skull fracture after her family's car was t-boned during a trip to the Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival in 2024.
The accident happened just two weeks before Nour was supposed to begin her master's program.
She spent two months in a coma. Her neurosurgeon said she wouldn't wake up, much less walk or talk again.
But her family, including her twin sister Aya, never lost faith.
"I know her like the back of my hand, pretty much," Aya said. "I just felt like she was going to be fine. We just had to keep going through it, do what had to be done, but she was going to be okay."
Now in speech and occupational therapy at Mary Free Bed, Aya's "twin telepathy" has proven right. Despite her injuries, Nour is cognitively sound, which means she can communicate through text and typing.
"She's hilarious," Nickelson said. "We need to get her to talk orally because she has so much to say, and it's all so important."
Nickelson has helped Nour relearn "every single sound" in the English language, from simple sounds to full words and sentences.
During a therapy session around the holidays, the pair worked on strengthening the muscles needed for speaking and swallowing, especially difficult due to Nour's velopharyngeal insufficiency.
"The back part of the roof of her mouth is not closed," Nickelson said. "Which, at the beginning of her recovery, was making all the air go through her nose, making it really hard to produce speech, impacting her swallow as well."
Perhaps oddly enough, when Nour practices sucking pudding through a straw, she's training her palette to properly close.
"I have never got teary-eyed over a straw before, but that was a really cool moment," said Nickelson, remembering the first time Nour successfully used a straw.
"She keeps surprising us week in week out of everything she's able to do," she said.
"I think Megan is the closest therapist to me," Nour said. "She has helped me get back to my life again."
The recovery process at Mary Free Bed, which has continued for more than a year and woven in elements of Lebanese culture and Arabic language, has been closely followed by the Yahya family.
Last month, father and mother Fadi and Zernab Yahya, along with Aya and their son, Mohamed, brought treats from Dearborn to a therapy session.
"She's never complained," Fadi said of his daugher. "She's been in this for almost a year and a half, I've never heard her complain."
"It's a new beginning for her and us," Zernab said. "We felt like she's reborn."
Aya has also volunteered at the very hospital where her sister receives treatment, providing additional support during the recovery process while stocking linens and doing laundry.
"We've all changed in different ways, we've gotten closer as a family," Aya said.
"I love it. I need the support from them. I need it," Nour said.
As Nour regains her footing and her grasp on daily activities like shopping and ordering coffee, she's also looking toward the future. In the fall, ideally following her graduation from speech and occupational therapy, she plans to return to her original goal of pursuing a master's degree in public health.
"I think my faith in God helped me so much with my recovery because when I was struggling, he helped me to keep on going and get better," Nour said. "And I did that."
