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Vail Valley woman recuperating from meningitis is thankful for all her ‘angels’

Bethe Wright is thankful for life, community and care

An infection almost killed Bethe Wright, and she's thankful for her "angels" who rallied to help. She's doing just fine.
Special to the Daily

We care about each other, but sometimes it takes real trouble to bring it out in us.

Bethe Wright put a contact lens in her left eye to read, but it didn’t feel quite right. A week later she was riding in an ambulance to the University of Colorado Medical Center, and in so much pain, she wondered if she was going to live to see the return trip.

Spoiler alert: She did.



Sitting in an isolation room, and now her living room recuperating from varicella-zoster meningitis, gives her lots of time to reflect on why she’s alive, relatively pain-free and taking care of clients for her insurance business, Wright Insurance, during open enrollment.

“So many people were so compassionate in figuring out what was wrong with me. So many people don’t get much credit, and I’m grateful to them all,” Wright said.

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Her care at Vail Health was excellent, but as an insurance agent, she was especially impressed by how well the many people taking care of her communicated with each other.

“It was like a well-oiled machine,” Wright said.

They quickly figured out what she was suffering from, and the treatment she should have. The treatment was not always easy: eating pills that seemed to be fist-sized when you’re trying to choke them down, being sent home with a peripherally inserted central catheter for intravenous therapy every eight hours … the list is long.

Her family and friends rallied, her insurance clients rallied, her caregivers rallied, people coordinated dinners. She’s thankful and grateful, she said, to “all the angels.”

Like many of us, Wright is usually the one coordinating care, either through her insurance agency or because that’s who she is to her very marrow.

“It’s humbling to accept help. I was so sick I just let it happen,” she said. “It’s crazy how many people are involved in one patient’s care. I have a lot to be thankful for with a community and a community hospital like this. It takes a village sometimes and I am beyond blessed and thankful for the community we are lucky enough to call home.”


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