NISKAYUNA, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Jacque Mundt had been dealing with numbness in her legs for days while on a trip to visit her ailing father in the Philippines. She woke up one day fully paralyzed. Doctors diagnosed her with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, or GBS. 

GBS is a rare disorder where the immune system attacks the nerves. Jacque was put on a respirator. Doctors thought she would not survive.

“I just started praying that I don’t want to die at 56,” Jacque said. 

Her husband, Gary, was told not to come to her side because of terrorism plaguing the island of Mindanao. It took him 30 days to bring Jacque home. 

“They would not guarantee she would survive the flight. All this is going on in my mind, you know, and I’m saying, ‘Geez, is she going to die on the flight? Is she coming home? And I would hold her hand and that would be the end of her,’” Gary said. 

It’s been almost a year and a half since Jacque was given a death sentence in that hospital in the Philippines. She was told she would never walk again, going from a hospital in Syracuse to the Pathways Rehab facility in Niskayuna.

Next stop, home. 

“Jacque is unique. She never gives up. Never, ever gives up no matter what people have told her, she has the mindset that this is where she wants to get to and she’s going to do whatever she needs to get there,” said occupational therapist Michelle Bundy.

“The biggest thing that helped me was my faith in God because I believe He will help me. I know I could not do it by myself.”  

With the support of those around her, Jacque will walk out of her physical therapy session this weekend for the final time, carrying this life lesson. 

“Give the best that you can give. At the end of the day, you will not regret if you have showed all your love to everybody, at the end of the day, you’re not afraid to die.”