Pastor Bill Elder, struck down by a stroke as he prepared for his Christmas Eve sermon, he wasn't sure he'd ever return to his pulpit at Mountaintop Community Church in Birmingham. See how Spain Rehabilitation Center's staff of physical, occupational, and speech therapists and rehabilitation nursing staff and physicians worked as a team to patiently prepare this remarkable man for the return to his pulpit.

It’s not the way he prefers to get from place to place, but Mike Jezdimir has become somewhat of an expert at maneuvering his scooter through tight places. He zips it in and out of elevators and through the Spain Rehabilitation Center physical therapy center with ease. He also uses it every day to get around his home in Maylene. But Jezdimir is working hard to ditch his wheels. He is determined to not let transverse myelitis keep him from doing the one thing he desperately wants to do.

In the months following April 2011 tornadoes, the many stories of rebirth, rebuilding and resilience have helped heal the state. University of Alabama student Chelsea Thrash is one such story. Chelsea's recovery at UAB's Spain Rehabilitation Center has helped her regain mobility, function and quality of life in time to start classes for the fall semester, just like she planned.

A spinal cord injury may have slowed Otis Jones' movement, but his spirit is still strong. Physicians and nurses from UAB's Spain Rehabilitation Center helped restore Otis abilities and quality of life for daily living. Now, more than nine years after his accident, Otis is giving back by serving as a role model to new rehabilitation patients facing the same struggles he did nearly a decade ago.

Penny Anthony liked her job. She was a certified occupational therapist assistant at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Spain Rehabilitation Center. She enjoyed helping people rebuild their lives if accident or disease left them disabled. For eleven years she was a therapist at Spain. Last November, she became a patient.

When Cade Weems suffered a traumatic brain injury in a catastrophic ATV accident, the first goal was to save his life. The staff at UAB Hospital succeeded in that goal. Doctors, nurses and speech and occupational therapists at UAB's Spain Rehabilitation Center worked to help give Cade back the life he once knew. Through a steady course of therapy, Cade relearned things that most people take for granted, like walking, talking and eating. Watch's Cade's miraculous story here.