A Marathon of Miracles

Doctors can’t explain her recovery. Words can’t capture her resilience. Rachel Foster is a walking miracle.

Following an electric scooter accident in November, the Moni’s Italian Restaurant chef and co-owner was left with a catastrophic brain injury, 17 broken bones and on life support. Doctors predicted the best-case scenario was a life where Rachel would never eat or breathe on her own – and that was if she woke up.

Just before her husband John made the impossible decision to remove Rachel from life support, she woke up and – against all medical odds – was both physically and cognitively responsive.

“Her medical care was amazing, but this was 100% a miracle,” John said. Her neurosurgeon agreed, and one member of her medical team says Rachel has changed the way he will practice medicine forever.

If not for photos and footage of Rachel jogging unassisted during rehab, her progress would be unbelievable. “Rachel is like a rocket,” John said. “If everyone is going by at normal speed, Rachel is blowing by at warp speed.”

If Rachel is a rocket, her team at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta is helping her launch. Through a series of events that were nothing short of providential, Rachel was accepted into the top-tier program and is now working with experts who specialize in spinal cord and brain injuries. But before Rachel could begin rehab, one crucial procedure was required.

“Half of Rachel’s skull was removed during her emergency surgery in Oklahoma, in order to make room for swelling,” John explained. “Normally, the brain has negative pressure, but without that piece of her skull, the atmospheric pressure was essentially crushing her brain. This obviously made rehab impossible.” This issue caused Rachel immense pain that lasted until January, when her neurosurgeon implanted a 3D-printed cap that has restored the structure of her skull.

Since then, Rachel has progressed at an unprecedented rate. She is now in outpatient therapy, practicing agility and building strength five days a week, and will continue through the middle of March. This end date is important, because Rachel has big plans for April – she’s going to run the Boston Marathon. This is a lofty goal for most runners, but Rachel is an experienced marathoner and has already qualified to run it.

“I’m so grateful to John and my therapy team for helping me get active again,” Rachel said. “It helps me physically, but it also helps me mentally to feel like myself again. Running and athleticism have always been a huge part of who I am.”

The Fosters look forward with full faith, not only that Rachel will run the race, but that her healing will be whole.

“After the accident, three separate family members texted me the same verse, Luke 8:50: ‘But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.’ We are choosing to believe it,” John said. The Fosters say witnessing Rachel’s recovery firsthand has changed the lives of everyone involved. They are endlessly grateful for, and overwhelmed by the support they’ve received from friends, family and even strangers.

“Every prayer, every thought, every text, and every dollar donated has meant a ton to us,” John said. “So many people have reached out, it’s going to take a while to thank them all. But our goal is to eventually connect with each person individually.”

Rachel specifically thanks the staff, more like family, at Moni’s. They have kept the restaurant running with such skill that some patrons say that if they wouldn’t have known about Rachel, they wouldn’t have noticed a difference.

The mutual dedication between the Fosters and Moni’s staff is apparent. Not only have the staff stepped up in their absence, but Rachel and John gave up their health insurance during the pandemic in order to keep their staff employed. In the absence of insurance, a GoFundMe was started to help cover Rachel’s medical costs.

The miraculous, “what-are-the-odds” moments involved in their story are too numerous to list. The Fosters hope to someday write a book that will adequately capture it all. For now, Rachel wants to leave readers with this message: “No matter what happens, there is always hope.”

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