September 19, 2008 was a life-changing day for Bob Saunders. Without warning, he awoke coughing up blood and struggling to breathe. After being rushed to a local community hospital, the diagnosis came back as ARDS, acute respiratory distress syndrome (which places an individual into respiratory failure). He underwent a tracheotomy and spent three weeks in the hospital’s ICU in an induced coma. His next stop? Bethesda Hospital for three months. Bob was on a ventilator for several weeks; following that, he worked hard with speech, physical, and occupational therapists to regain the most basic of abilities.