For almost eight years, pain ruled Jennifer Mokos' life, robbing her even of the ability to eat and walk. The Mayo Clinic Pain Rehabilitation Center helped her get back to living the life she loved. 

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On her son's 10th birthday, Jennifer Mokos gave him a gift that couldn't be wrapped.

She baked him a cake.

"It was the first time he could remember me making him a birthday cake," says Jennifer, who'd spent most of young Nathan's life wheelchair-bound and unable to cook or eat.

Getting back into the kitchen had once seemed impossible. But thanks to the Mayo Clinic Pain Rehabilitation Center, Jennifer has been able to do that and much more — including returning to her seat in the orchestra pit of a community theater.

"That was something I thought I'd never be able to do again," she says.

'Never assume you'll be healthy forever'

Jennifer's life began to change dramatically after she developed a salmonella infection in 2013.

"For three weeks, I couldn't keep anything down," says Jennifer, of Champaign, Illinois. "I was going into the hospital for IV fluids."

The illness was the start of a cascade of health problems. She was diagnosed with pancreatitis and had her gallbladder removed. Her eating difficulties persisted, so she began relying on total parenteral nutrition. She was constantly nauseated.

Then she began experiencing instability in her joints and was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder.

"I had a couple of surgeries and had to wear ankle braces," Jennifer says. Before long, she was using a wheelchair.

She took medications — more than 60 of them — to deal with the unrelenting nausea and pain.

And still, she was miserable.

"I had to wear heavy ankle braces, use a feeding tube and a wheelchair," Jennifer says. She couldn't play on the floor with Nathan, couldn't share meals with her family, and had to give up being part of the orchestra she loved.

"There was no elevator to get me to the orchestra pit," Jennifer says.

The progressive losses were challenging both physically and mentally.

"I was working through a lot of emotions," Jennifer says. "Never assume you'll be healthy forever."

There was also the problem of sleep. It eluded Jennifer at night, leaving her drowsy during the day.

She scheduled an appointment at the Mayo Clinic Center for Sleep Medicine, where she learned that she was on too many medications for a sleep study.

"Someone there recommended the Pain Rehabilitation Center," Jennifer says. "They said I could get help getting off the meds so I could qualify for a sleep study."

In January 2022, Jennifer enrolled in the center's three-week, full-time program. On her first day, staff asked her a question:

"In your ideal world, what would you like to do by the time you leave here?"

"I said, 'In a perfect world, I'd like to eat and walk again,'" Jennifer says. "They said, 'OK.'"

Evidence-based, effective

Wes Gilliam, Ph.D., didn't doubt Jennifer could achieve her goals.

As clinical director of the Pain Rehabilitation Center, he's seen it happen hundreds of times. People like Jennifer come to the program deconditioned, anxious and depressed. They come in wheelchairs or dependent on walkers or canes. Their lives have become dominated by pain.

But as they progress through the core components of the program, that begins to change. Participants learn about the psychology of pain. They take part in physical and occupational therapy, and use biofeedback to regulate their breathing and reduce muscle tension and anxiety. They're slowly weaned off medications.

"It's immensely difficult work," Dr. Gilliam says of the evidence-based treatment model. "By the time people come to us, they've usually been living with pain for many years. We ask them to do things they've been running from and to work with their fear. Our patients show tremendous courage."

That courage gets a boost from seeing other participants achieve their goals.

"We have rolling enrollment, so when people begin the program, they're meeting people who may be a few days or weeks ahead of them," Dr. Gilliam says. "Our veteran participants support new people as they come in."

Back to eating, walking, living

When she was nearly two weeks into the program, Jennifer did something she hadn't done in more than seven years: She ate.

"I had about two ounces of applesauce," she says. "With biofeedback techniques, I was able to keep it down."

The next day, staff encouraged her to build on that success by eating a bit more applesauce. The day after that, they discontinued her feeding tube.

"I started with smoothies because they are the easiest things to digest," Jennifer says. Then she tried a turkey sandwich. A few days later, she ate half of her husband's hamburger.

"Once I was able to get back into eating, things progressed quickly," Jennifer says. She stopped using her wheelchair, first using a cane and then walking unassisted. And she discontinued most of the medications she was taking when she entered the program.

For Dr. Gilliam and his colleagues in the Pain Rehabilitation Center, seeing patients transform their lives is hugely gratifying.

"I love coming to work every day because of patients like Jennifer," says Danielle N. Carlson, a clinical nurse specialist. "It's why I've been here almost eight years."

That may sound like a long tenure, but Carlson is still a relative newbie among her colleagues.

"Many of our staff have been with the PRC for 15 or 20 years," Dr. Gilliam says. "That speaks to the rewards of working with our patients."

Reason to believe

More than a year after leaving the Pain Rehabilitation Center, Jennifer remains amazed by the changes in her life. She eats with her family, cooks and bakes, and "was even able to get rid of the great big ankle braces" she'd been told would be permanent.

And in August 2022, she once again stepped into an orchestra pit, playing violin in the Champaign-Urbana Theatre Company's production of "Shrek: The Musical."

"That was a huge milestone for me," Jennifer says.

It's a milestone she says was made possible by the team at the Pain Rehabilitation Center.

"The single most important thing to me about the PRC program is that everyone there seemed to believe I could achieve my 'perfect world' vision," Jennifer says. "I didn't believe it, and I'm not sure anyone in my family or my doctors at home believed it. The staff told me I was the one to do it, but I never could have done it on my own."

Dr. Gilliam hopes others living with pain will be inspired by Jennifer's story and consider coming to the Pain Rehabilitation Center themselves.

"There's hope for anyone," he says. "And we are here to help."

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The Pain Rehabilitation Center has teams based at Mayo Clinic's campuses in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota. Minnesota also offers a pediatric program for ages 13 and up. Learn more or request an appointment here.