Lifepoint Health - Matthew's Story | Healthcare Video Production Louisville

Lifepoint Health is a national health system operating hospitals and rehabilitation facilities across the country, with a mission centered on making communities healthier. UP Health System in Marquette, Michigan — one of Lifepoint's facilities — serves as the only health system in Michigan's Upper Peninsula with an inpatient rehabilitation program, making it a critical resource for a region with few alternatives.

Matthew was riding his motorcycle when gravel sent his back tire out. He left the road, woke up with the bike on his legs, and couldn't feel them at all. He had fractured his spine and developed a blood clot pressing on his spinal cord. He was airlifted to UP Health System, taken directly to the OR, and told he might never walk again.

We produced this patient success story for Lifepoint Health, following Matthew from that emergency surgery through an inpatient rehabilitation program that pushed him three hours of therapy a day, five days a week. The video captures his story through multiple voices — his mother, who took the initial phone call from the neurosurgery team; his physical therapist; his physician; and Matthew himself, who set one goal from the beginning and refused to negotiate it: walking out of the hospital on his own.

He did.

Patient stories are among the most strategically valuable content a healthcare system can produce. They communicate outcomes, culture, and capability in a way that no marketing language can replicate. For Lifepoint, this video is a proof point — the kind of story that builds institutional trust with patients, families, and referring physicians across a wide geographic footprint.

About This Project
Client: Lifepoint Health / UP Health System
Type: Patient success story, healthcare video production
Location: Marquette, Michigan
Services: On-location production, patient interview, multi-subject interviews, editing

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John Flower Productions has been producing patient stories and healthcare video for hospitals and health systems since 2007. From rehabilitation success stories to system-wide brand films, we handle sensitive human subjects with the care they deserve — and deliver content that builds trust with patients, families, and referring physicians.
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Video Transcript:

Hi, this message is for Jackie. My name is Christine Croney. I'm a physician assistant at UPH Health System in Marquette, Michigan. I have your son with me, and I would like you to give me a call as soon as you get this message for some updates on him, please. Ask to talk to the neurosurgery team. Thank you very much.

And my first question is, "Do I need to sit down?" She's like, "Yeah, you need to sit down." I sat down. She goes, "The good news is he's alive and he's not on a ventilator, but he was in a very serious motorcycle accident."

There was some gravel in the road. My back tire skidded out. I remember leaving the road and then waking up with my motorcycle on my legs and not being able to feel my legs, at all. I wasn't sure if I'd ever walk again. I had a fractured spine and was airlifted to the UP Health System in Marquette. He had a severe fracture of the middle portion of his spine, and with this fracture, he had a blood clot around his spinal cord, which was pushing on it as well. We got all the suitable imaging for him, took him straight to the OR to decompress his spinal cord and fix his fracture. If he had not been able to come to this hospital in the timeframe that he did, and had to be transferred somewhere else, I think that would've potentially left him unable to move or walk. UP Health System is a vital part of the care for the patients here in a timely manner that they need. So UP Health System Marquette is very unique because we are the only health system in the UP that has an inpatient rehab program. I met him on the first day that he came here. He needed help with even washing his face. He would get three hours of therapy a day, five times a week, and he was always up for a challenge. He was always willing to work hard. He knew what he wanted, and he put in the work for it. Every day, I just wanted to progress more. I had that drive to do more, and I had goals. Me and Andy would sit down and be like, "What do you want to do?" And I wanted to walk out of there. That's where it's at. When they start to achieve these goals needed for home, typically we're going for home. That's our goal. We want what the patient wants. In this program, that's what it's all about. With time, he was already putting his own brace on, and it was one step at a time, literally, and through every part of the journey. And every day I would ask them, "Can we push it a little bit?" I knew that I could, and I knew that if we did, it would just be better. I would come in, "Oh, Mom, I did this, and I got to do this today, and we worked on this today, and this is what I really need to work on still." And just such a great attitude, which helped me, I think. It helped me say, "Okay, my son's going to be okay." There are certainly two parts to this story. There is Matthew's self-motivation, and without it, he doesn't have the recovery. Second part of his story is the environment we provided for him to achieve his goals. And between the therapy team, the nursing staff, and the facility, we were able to provide the environment to get him where he wanted to be. I couldn't have asked for better care. I don't think it's possible.

I wanted to walk out of there, and with their help, I was able to do that.

On my discharge day, I got to go see a lot of my nurses in the ICU, and people that just kind of would walk by and notice me, and they were so happy for me.

I left. It was a good moment. I walked out, but I'm going to miss everyone there. They were so kind to me.