Series of miracles, community movement lift Sioux Falls mom, leader to recovery

This is a story about strength.

Grace.

Persistence.

Faith.

Friendship.

But, best of all, this is a story about miracles.

Early in the morning of Feb. 3, Kendra Brouwer’s husband, Graeme, woke up to the sound of his wife barely able to breathe.

“She wouldn’t wake,” said Graeme’s longtime friend, Robbie Stowell.

Graeme, who had never performed CPR, began doing so with the help of a 911 dispatcher over the phone, his friend said.

“He said he was doing CPR for what seemed like forever, but probably a couple minutes before he had a breath intake,” Stowell said. “He didn’t even know CPR. He was on the phone, and they were telling him what to do.”

That the Sioux Falls man was there at all was the first miracle.

Graeme, an avid fisherman, had spent the night before that one in a shack on a lake with friends.

“And his immediate response to me was he was just so thankful and that this was the Lord,” Stowell said. “If this had happened the night before, his kids would have woken up and found mom, and there would have been no help.”

Graeme’s work – he’s a longtime produce manager at Hy-Vee – also requires early mornings. It’s not uncommon for him to wake up to find his wife on the couch asleep with one of the kids who has come in during the night.

Instead, he was by her side as EMTs arrived and shocked his wife’s heart back into rhythm and brought her to Sanford USD Medical Center.

“It was horrific to hear that she had stopped breathing. And to hear what her husband had been through,” said Brooke Fossell, Kendra’s longtime friend.

“And that we had to wait several days before we would know anything.”

It wasn’t just close friends and family waiting for word on Kendra, though.

As word spread, an entire community rose up.

Community builder

Kendra Brouwer, who is 36, grew up in Wyoming and came to Sioux Falls after graduating from SDSU.

She, as much as anyone, has helped establish and grow the area yoga community. She began yoga in high school and brought her skills to Sioux Falls in 2008.

“If you are a wellness person, you probably know Kendra,” said Kristin Hoefert-Redlinger, who is one of many certified yoga instructors trained by Brouwer.

“If you’re yoga-certified, the 200-hour teacher training is six months, and I think Kendra is one of the only, if not the only provider in Sioux Falls who can do that.”

When Brouwer came to Sioux Falls, “it was really hard to find yoga and to find trainings,” said Fossell, who met Brouwer when the two taught at the former Dharma Room yoga studio downtown 13 years ago.

“We traveled a lot. And now that’s very changed. Yoga is such a part of the fabric of our community, and she has as much to do with that as anyone. She’s been there from the beginning, and she sought out yoga because it made her a better mother and a better person and a better friend, and she just wanted to share that with other people.”

Brouwer’s current business, Kosha Yoga School, allows her to combine her passions of health, wellness and mindfulness. She teaches prenatal yoga, yin yoga and yoga for beginners, and offers massage therapy.

This photo and Kendra’s profile photo are by PasqueCreative.

She also does guest visits to other studios and is an independent consultant with Arbonne International.

And, even before the events of last week, the past year had been a profoundly challenging one.

Model of courage

Brouwer battled breast cancer through the pandemic – she’s now in remission – and endured four surgeries while continuing to run her businesses.

“Without a hiccup,” Fossell added. “She was going to radiation and chemo and continuing her business without much disruption at all. She continued to train teachers. She continued an active role in the responsibilities of her business. Through every surgery and every procedure, she was the one checking up on other people and asking us to go for a workout.”

They would walk together at the cancer center in between Brouwer’s treatment sessions.

“It was an amazing walk of grace and courage and faith. She was not angry. She did not blame anybody. She just showed the rest of us how to be courageous,” Fossell said.

“Kendra as a yoga teacher and as a person of faith really has a larger perspective on life. All her friendships are like soul mate relationships. All of them. Even if they’re not her students. If they’re friends from the elementary school her kids go to or her Bible study or the people she goes running with. She’s always been beyond the smallness of the human ego. She connects to the spirit of other people.”

So keep all that in mind as you picture Brouwer on life support last week as prayers lifted up worldwide.

The making of a miracle

Placed on a ventilator and sedated, her body temperature was cooled down to prevent brain swelling from a cardiac event where lack of oxygen could have occurred, according to Brouwer’s CaringBridge journal.

By Friday, it was time to rewarm her body.

And as the sedation was weaned, the signs of hope began to multiply.

A squeezed hand. Following simple commands. Opening her eyes.

“What a difference a day makes,” said Stowell, who had been keeping in touch with his friend Graeme.

“His world was turned upside down, and he didn’t know what to do, and then it was like a different person. He was just so thankful to all the people for their support and thankful to Jesus that everything that worked out the way it did. His biggest concern was that she was going to be able to open her eyes and see her kids again.”

By Saturday, Kendra was awake, talking and smiling.

By Sunday, she had posted a photo of a sunrise from her hospital room on her social media accounts with the words:

“Good morning friend!! It’s a beautiful day to be alive!!”

“It was such a shared, collective relief,” Fossell said. “It was a feeling of, really elation, and it was a feeling that was so shared. It was not just personal. This was a relief of thousands of hearts.”

A community gives back

Brouwer now is slowly discovering all that went on while she was recovering.

“This is a whole community she has helped, and this is our chance to be strong for her,” said Hoefert-Redlinger, who is helping organize a week’s worth of fundraising events.

The effort started Friday night, with a livestreamed yoga fundraiser thanks to help from Pinnacle Productions and the Sioux Falls Convention Center.

It continues throughout the week with five hours of yoga classes at Ignite Fitness Studio from instructors Brouwer has taught. Fossell and Hoefert-Redlinger will be among several instructors teaching a variety of classes to benefit Brouwer’s medical fund.

“I would love to pay for her medical bills and give her enough financial freedom to take her family on vacation or just take a break,” Hoefert-Redlinger said. “She didn’t take any breaks during cancer treatments. I think we can reach $100,000. She reaches further than she would ever have awareness of.”

Stowell, who is managing partner of the Sioux Falls Outback Steakhouse, is offering a $20 meal at his restaurant Feb. 16 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with a to-go option from 4 to 6 p.m. The meal includes a salad, choice of an 8-ounce sirloin, chicken breast or salmon and choice of mashed potatoes or veggies. Meals will need to be pre-purchased.

“I couldn’t be prouder to be a part,” he said. “I just want to do whatever we can to raise whatever kind of funds we can. Outback is the biggest platform I have to offer … and there’s nothing I’d rather be a part of.”

An auction also will be held online starting Feb. 9 through 1:30 p.m. Feb. 16 during the event at Outback. Text “Kendra” to 76278 to register or visit kendra.givesmart.com.

Additionally, Bee Loved Kitchen is selling Helping Heart Cakes for pickup Feb. 9 at Pomegranate Market, and supporters are organizing a meal train.

For updates and the complete list of events for the week, click here. 

Donations can be sent through Venmo to @prayforkendra or through GoFundMe. 

“This experience, I think, will change a lot of people, will make them appreciate their lives more and their relationships more and turn to the example of courage and faith she has exhibited,” Fossell said.

“The thing that really has always struck me about Kendra is her commitment to her dreams, even when she had nothing more than her ideas to make it happen. There was no stance of privilege. She just knew what she needed to do and did it. So when I think about what she will do coming out of this, I think we can expect really big things.”