A rural wife pushes herself to the limit to help her disabled husband.

By Beth Macy
published Sunday, July 20, 2008

BUCHANAN — When doctors deemed her 71-year-old, 170-pound husband a “two assist” — meaning, it takes two people to lift him — Michelle Hammer said to herself: No. Watch me. I can do it myself.

She was already showering her brain-injured husband, Michael, every morning; already sleeping in four-hour stretches because he needed his medicine midway through the night.Michelle Hammer turns her sleeping husband, Michael so she can change his incontinence pad.

She was changing his diaper six times a day. She was teaching him how to talk.

Maybe it’s the old professional horse handler in her, but Michelle has always thought that, with God’s help and relentless elbow grease, she can make anything work.

In her 30s, her favorite Clydesdale kicked her, earning her a face full of metal plates and a scar on her upper lip.

In her early 40s, the scars she gained were the invisible kind, holdovers from a rocky first marriage; Michelle had stuck with it for 23 years, long after the love was gone.

But scar tissue is tough — the perfect shield for a woman who finds herself broke and alone, a full-time caregiver at the age of 47.

No one was surprised when Michelle vowed to see her husband through to a full recovery, determined to get the old Michael back. The only question was:

How far would she go?