“It feels like I’ve reclaimed a piece of what was missing,” Dr. Shirlee Xie tells PEOPLE
Credit: Shirlee Xie (2)
NEED TO KNOW
- Dr. Shirlee Xie, paralyzed after a 300-foot mountain fall in Switzerland, has returned to practicing medicine
- She credits her colleagues for accommodating her needs and helping her ease back into her role as a doctor
- Xie tells PEOPLE that her experience as a patient has deepened her empathy
Two years after becoming paralyzed in a devastating mountain fall, a Minnesota woman is back doing what she loves.
In September 2024, Shirlee Xie — a doctor from Edina, Minn. — was hiking with her husband during a trip to Switzerland when she fell about 300 feet from a mountain. Miraculously, she survived, but she sustained multiple injuries, including fractures to her spine that have left her completely paralyzed from the chest down.
After several surgeries and rehabilitation, Xie tells PEOPLE today that she’s feeling good and has been well-adjusted to her new norm.
“I’ve been pretty good for the most part. Every day gets a little bit easier,” she tells PEOPLE. “Two years has been, I think, enough time for me to figure out how to be semi-independent at home again.”
Credit: PhilArty
But Xie admits that being more independent at home was never the goal. So, four weeks ago, she made her long-awaited return to work, practicing medicine at Hennepin Healthcare for the first time since her accident.
“It feels amazing,” she says. “When I first fell, I felt like I had lost all of these things that were important to me. I couldn’t travel, I couldn’t go to work, I couldn’t be independent. So now going back to work, it feels like I’ve reclaimed a piece of what was missing. I feel whole again.”
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Credit: Shirlee Xie
Xie, 41, says although she’s thrilled to be back, she’s taking things slow and easing her way back in.
“I go in about a day or so a week just to sort of dip my toes in and get used to being in the hospital again,” she says. “We’re used to working seven days a week, up to 80 hours with a full panel of patients. And that’s not something that I felt ready for.”
“So I have a smaller workload but my partners have been very gracious,” she explains, noting that they’ve made accommodations so she can see patients while navigating in her wheelchair. “They’ve been really great about giving me patients in rooms that are big enough where I can physically get in there and get next to the bed.”
Credit: Shirlee Xie
Xie tells PEOPLE that going back to work, she has a newfound understanding of what her patients go through, having been a patient herself in the past two years.
“Before, I always went into patients’ rooms knowing that being a patient in the hospital can be a very scary experience because you don’t have control over your situation and there’s a lot of people telling you what’s gonna happen and what needs to be done. I certainly understand that better as a patient. But I think I have more empathy now than I did before.”
As she continues to get reacclimated to seeing patients and practicing medicine, Xie says she’s most excited about being able to feel like she can finally “give back again.”
“After I fell, I became very dependent on other people, and I still have to remind myself every day that just because I need help doesn’t make me a burden,” she shares. “But now being able to be in the hospital and be a doctor again is the first time I really feel like I can help other people.”
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