By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

CHELSEA – With sunlight streaming through the windows of her Chelsea home, Shari Hyde sits at her kitchen table with her mother and several friends on March 16, talking, laughing and smiling much of the time.

The conversation is light as Hyde, 50, prepares to reflect on the events that have transpired in her life over the last month.

After about 15 minutes of talking, Hyde excuses herself and walks into the living room to lie down for a few minutes.

An outsider wouldn’t immediately grasp the significance of Hyde’s brief conversation at the kitchen table, her walk to the couch or even the trademark grin that spreads across her face numerous times as she chats with her visitors.

But those at her house on March 16 – and the rest of her family, friends and acquaintances that have spent time with her in the last five weeks – know how truly remarkable Hyde’s actions are.

Hyde, clinic director at OnMark Physical Therapy in Chelsea, suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm on Feb. 21 during an evening worship service at Liberty Baptist Church.

The aneurysm – a bulge in a blood vessel in the brain caused by weakening of the artery wall – resulted in a massive amount of blood in her brain. To compound the situation, Hyde had a second stroke during her initial surgery the next day, causing another bleed.

The severity of Hyde’s situation was not lost on her or her family; then again, neither was the hope that she would recover.

The physical therapist, deeply rooted in her Christian faith and known for her compassion in helping others heal and walking with them through pain, has become known throughout her community for perseverance and resilience in her own trials.