Across 20 years, Sara’s Garden has transformed tragedy and loss into a legacy of hope, help, and healing! Sara Joy Rychener-Burkholder, a 25-year-old wife, teacher, and expectant mother, died of internal bleeding during the birth of her first child. She was the first woman in over 50 years to die in childbirth at the Fulton County Health Center in Wauseon. The traumatic birth deprived her son, Jackson, of oxygen. Doctors would later diagnose Jackson with cerebral palsy (CP) and provide the family with a very bleak prognosis of what his life would be like. Rather than giving up or giving into grief, the Burkholders and Rycheners transformed it into action, creating and founding Sara’s Garden – The Sara Joy Rychener-Burkholder Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Center, a nonprofit organization, which has treated close to a thousand families in need of HBOT services over the last 20 years. Sara’s Garden truly offers families hope, help, and healing!

Below are some special moments and transformative stories from the past 20 years compiled from articles, newsletters, and client experiences.

Chelsea and Taylor
Chelsea was among those families looking for hope and support to overcome the effects of Hashimoto’s Disease and Premature Ovarian Failure (POF). “When I arrived at Sara’s Garden for my first treatment and saw that their mission is ‘Hope, Help, Healing,’ I knew that I was in the right place. I needed healing in more than just my body, and God provided that to me. He used Sara’s Garden, a grief counseling group at my church, my acupuncturist, and the countless prayers of family, friends, and even strangers to bring me healing. It is only because of Him that I was able to give birth to a perfectly healthy, 8 lb. 12 oz., baby boy on July 8 of 2020.”

Just like Chelsea, her sister Taylor had also been told by multiple reproductive specialists that she could never have children. She is the reason Chelsea sought out Sara’s Garden and is now the mother of four beautiful children. Sara’s Garden offers families hope, help, and healing!

HBOT Services and Staff
The basis of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber to help the body heal and fight infections. The increased air pressure in the chamber helps the lungs collect more oxygen, which can then travel up to 20 times farther through the bloodstream to help with wound healing, tissue growth, pain relief, immune system responses, and so many other healing processes.

For true healing through HBOT, it takes more than the pressurized oxygen chamber. Here at Sara’s Garden, it takes a dedicated, caring, compassionate staff made up of three Certified Hyperbaric Registered Nurses (CHRN), along with another CHRN candidate, a paramedic/EMT, Clinic Coordinator Lori Fredrick–a master’s level nurse with over 37 years of nursing experience, and a volunteer doctor and medical director. Every client that comes to Sara’s Garden for HBOT treatments can be assured that our quality, committed staff are here to help them find hope and healing in a safe, supportive environment!

Miracles don’t usually occur overnight or after just one HBOT treatment. Sara’s Garden Director/CEO (and Sara Rychener-Burkholder’s brother) Matt Rychener notes that there are usually no immediate miraculous results after just one treatment. In fact, the best results happen when the client makes a commitment to have HBOT treatments several times a week. “The more exposure to the oxygen, the better, so several treatments each week are recommended. Patients aren’t required to do a certain number of treatments. We find that they know when they want to stop; because even if there aren’t visible outside changes, they know when they experience a positive change and begin to feel better.”

Brittany and Tony
“Ten years ago, Brittany had her last dive on her 13th birthday. Our success at Sara’s Garden was a major turning point in the treatment of her intractable epilepsy. Since then, she has graduated from Lake High School (2012), completed the Life Skills Program at Penta Career Center (2015), moved into a group home run by Luther Home of Mercy (2015), and started working part-time in the cafeteria at Mercy St. Charles Hospital (2016). Today (July, 2016), Brittany turns 23 years old, and our prayer of thanks includes the staff of Sara’s Garden for the love, compassion and care that we ALL received 10 years ago. I have no doubt in my mind that HBOT started the cascade of successes that we have seen over the past 10 years! Thank you Sara’s Garden for helping to literally save Brittany’s life!”

Since completing treatments, Tony is overjoyed to report that the migraines which had plagued him for so long have finally gone away. He has noticed more flexibility with his back and felt there was finally a shift in his body’s healing. People have commented that he looks so much better and seems to have better control of his body movements and surety in his gait. “I feel great and am so thankful for these treatments. My bones are healed, my migraines have dissipated, and my back is loosening up. Everyone at Sara’s Garden was so helpful and friendly. I cannot begin to tell you how much this process has meant to me. I grow stronger every day and have much better mental clarity.” Thanks to HBOT and the grace of God, Tony has been able to fulfill the dream he had before his car accident to start a new ministry in central Ohio. No matter what you’ve been told, there is hope, help, and healing!

HBOT Facility Transformation
A steel foundry used to sit at the corner of Leggett Street and Lawrence Avenue in Wauseon; but just like Sara’s Garden’s patients, it too was transformed in 2004 into a place of hope, help, and healing! Over the last 20 years, it has housed Sara’s Garden’s bright, purple HBOT chambers, which have transformed the lives of countless patients and their families through 10,000+ dives or treatments. In 2014, the HBOT chambers and facility were renovated with the hope that they would provide hope, help, and healing for patients for another 10 years, and they certainly have! As long as there are those seeking services, there is little doubt that Sara’s Garden and its HBOT chambers will continue to provide hope, help and healing for families from across the country.

Aubree and Brianne
Aubree started HBOT on January 9, 2013, nearly immobile, non-responsive, and with a TBI two months after her near fatal car accident. After just a week of treatments on January 15, Aubree began talking, bringing most of Sara’s Garden’s staff to tears. As the month went on, she began moving around, getting off of her stretcher between treatments, and even walking up and down the hall with no assistance. Several of the EMTs who had been transporting Aubree to Sara’s Garden the first week did not see her again until her fourth and final week of treatments. They were shocked, elated, and overjoyed at the progress she had made in that short time. The young woman, who had arrived on her first day of HBOT treatments on a stretcher, walked out the door on her own 40 treatments later!

Months after Brianne’s migraine struck, she still had to wear darkly tinted glasses indoors, a brimmed hat outdoors, and earplugs to avoid loud sounds. Due to constant migraine pain (even on nine medications), she had to drop out of school and quit her part-time job. By the middle of her second week of HBOT treatments, Brianne had a 20-minute respite from her pain. This was the beginning of the light at the end of the tunnel! From that point on, her pain began to recede. She started to spend time with her family in the living room watching television, was soon turning the radio on in the car on her way to HBOT treatments, and even ventured out shopping with no hat or sunglasses. By the end of her third week of HBOT, Brianne was stating that she was pain-free and started driving for the first time in over six months! Since then, Brianne has had several migraines that she refers to as “normal people” migraines, which last only a few hours and have been traced to low blood sugar, fatigue or muscle strain. She combats them with frequent small meals, yoga, and the occasional nap. Thanks to HBOT at Sara’s Garden, Brianne has her life back! Her family is convinced that without these treatments, none of this would have been possible. No matter what you’ve been told, there is hope, help, and healing.

Growth at the Garden
Sara’s Garden is the only non-profit facility in all of North America to offer specialized, comprehensive hyperbaric oxygen therapy, conductive education, autism intervention, and sensory integration services. Sara’s Garden has treated clients from as far away as Oregon and Washington in the Great Northwest, California and Arizona in the West, to Alabama and Louisiana in the South, to Maine and New York City in the East, as well as Canada. What started out as a facility that treated only children with cerebral palsy, has grown to include clients of all ages and conditions, including ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, autism, burns, cancer, Lyme disease, migraines, multiple sclerosis (MS), Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), seizure disorders, sports injuries, stroke, Long Haul Covid or Post-Covid Conditions (PCC), traumatic brain injury (TBI), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and wound healing.

Mikayla and Melody
Mikayla never dreamed that something as seemingly harmless as a concussion would result in over two years of profound physical, emotional, and psychological trauma; so her advice for anyone considering HBOT is “Do it and don’t lose hope!”

Before coming to Sara’s Garden because of her seizures, Melody had never walked, talked, ate independently, or played with objects. During her initial visit to Sara’s Garden, Melody did 20 treatments in October, returned a few months later in February for an additional 10 treatments, and followed up with 20 more treatments the following June. Her family could not believe the amazing results they saw in her, and even her therapists were shocked at the results! Her first school year after those HBOT treatments was the first school year where she accomplished virtually all of her IEP goals. Her motor skills improved to the point where she could pull objects out of a bucket and make purposeful movements in her gait trainer (even moving it on her own). She no longer has severe muscle tone issues and has been using communication boards to effectively communicate with those around her. She even went six months without any seizure activity!

Hope, Help and Healing!
Over the last 20 years, Sara’s Garden has touched so many lives and offered families hope, help, and healing. All of their HBOT stories and more are treasured on sarasgarden.org.

Looking back over the years, we have been blessed beyond measure and humbly acknowledge that we have so much to be thankful for.

We are thankful that Dave & Judy and Chuck & Pam were obedient to God’s calling on their lives and were willing to take such a huge leap of faith, in a season of grieving, and start Sara’s Garden.

We are thankful for our dedicated and selfless board members, both past and present, who have given so much time, effort and expertise in helping to shape and guide the organization.

We are thankful for our talented and caring staff who pour out so much love and compassion into the lives of our clients and their families every single day.

We are thankful for our clients who have entrusted us to serve them, at times against traditional medical advice.

We are thankful for our countless donors and volunteers who have come along side Sara’s Garden to partner with us and provide crucial funding, skills and services allowing us to provide these life-changing treatments.

Finally, we are thankful for God’s blessings on this organization and humbled that He has allowed us to play a part in the lives of so many amazing clients and families for the past twenty years.

Our hope and prayer is that we continue to be obedient to God’s calling, just as our founders were, as we embark on our next twenty years.

If you or someone you know is looking for hope, help, and healing and you think hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) may help, please reach out to Sara’s Garden at 419-335-7272 or email [email protected]. Help us to continue celebrating the power of hope, healing, and HBOT for another 20 years!