When Skylee Manecke graduated from the ThedaCare School of Radiologic Technology in June 2026, she felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment. The gratification was hard earned for a program that’s often regarded as challenging and rewarding in equal measure.
For Skylee, grit and determination are hardwired. They’re traits she developed when at just 13 years old, she suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. It was an experience that would shape her character and set her on a path to where she is today.
Now 22, newly graduated and working as an X-ray and CT technologist at ThedaCare Medical Center-Waupaca, Skylee reflects on the last several years.
“I feel very proud and confident and thankful,” she says. “Every single day, I thank God I’m still here. I’m so grateful and thankful and feel so supported too.”
Concerning Symptoms to Medical Emergency
Rewind nine years, and Skylee had recently turned 13. Throughout her childhood, she had often experienced headaches and head pressure.
Skylee’s healthcare team near her hometown of Edgar, Wisconsin, in Marathon County couldn’t explain her symptoms. This made it hard to get any clear answers.
“No one listens to a second grader who says they have a headache,” Skylee recalls.
Her headaches continued and worsened. In the summer of 2017, Skylee became gravely ill. She experienced fevers and struggled to sleep. When she finally did, she would have hallucinations.
“The week leading up to it was absolutely the worst week of my life,” Skylee says of her stroke. “I had never felt more sick, more helpless.”
Skylee’s mom, Valerie, said she was going to bring her to the emergency department. Having never gotten answers from past emergency or urgent care visits, Skylee was skeptical. But this time was different.
Skylee underwent her first-ever CT scan. As she and her mom were awaiting the results, Skylee took a turn for the worse. She kept asking her mom if she looked funny because she couldn’t move her face and it felt like it was falling.
“My nurse walked in, and the look on her face was just in awe. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She said, ‘We need to call a code stroke right now,’” Skylee recounts.
‘Am I Going to Be OK?’
The next several minutes were chaos. Skylee remembers this: “I looked up at my nurse and said, ‘Am I going to be OK?’ And all she said was, ‘We’re going to do everything we can.’”
Soon, a team was preparing to airlift Skylee to Madison. The helicopter couldn’t accommodate her mom, so Skylee had to travel with the crew on her own.
As they were readying for departure, Skylee heard her dad’s signature piercing whistle ring out over the noise. Her dad, Craig, had driven to the hospital and stood atop his truck to get a signal to his daughter so she would know he was there.
Skylee awoke to flying over the Capitol and soon landed at American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison. Her aunt and uncle, who live in Madison, met her there.
Following her stroke, Skylee would spend a week in the hospital recovering and rehabbing. Once home, she could only go to school for half days initially and had to miss her volleyball season — both tough setbacks for a middle schooler.
Skylee’s stroke impacted the entire left side of her body and affected her coordination and speech. But in time, she would make a near-full recovery.
Despite all she endured, one sentiment stands out for Skylee: gratitude. She says she’s thankful for everyone who cared for her: nurses, CT and MRI techs, doctors and neurologists.
“They changed my life for the better,” she says. “It made me want to do nothing more than the same for someone else.”
Coming Full Circle
A few years later, Skylee would keep the promise she had made to herself.
As a high school student, Skylee developed an interest in and aptitude for anatomy. Then a sports injury led to a revelation.
“Senior year hit. I had an X-ray series done, and I asked to job shadow,” Skylee says. “I decided this was exactly what I wanted to do with my life.”
With her interest in imaging, Skylee chose the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for her first two years of college. From there, she was accepted into the ThedaCare School of Radiologic Technology and chose to pursue the bachelor’s degree path.
Skylee’s 21-month program included rotations in X-ray, fluoroscopy, surgery and CT. While she describes her schooling as challenging and stressful, she also says she wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“It’s just hands on, all day long and staying confident while learning,” she says. “In the end, the confidence it gives you after graduation is unbelievable.”
Skylee also says the program gave her unmatched support from faculty and peers. Through the experience, she’s made friendships she anticipates will last a lifetime.
“Truly, they’re the only people who understand what you’re going through, and that’s what gets you through it,” Skylee says of her classmates.
That’s exactly the kind of experience the school’s leaders aim to foster, says Troy Albrecht, program director for the ThedaCare School of Radiologic Technology.
“When we go to UWO, we tell the students that this isn’t just a program. It’s about family,” he says. “We want you to work within ThedaCare. We build that relationship with students where they have the trust that we’re going to be there for them.”
Answering the Call
To launch her career, Skylee chose ThedaCare Medical Center-Waupaca for its warm, welcoming team environment and proximity to her hometown.
Though new to her profession, Skylee has already discovered that every day brings something different. Each person is unique and brings their own story and struggles. Skylee adjusts accordingly and has developed her own style.
“If they’re feeling sad, I’m going to be that supportive person,” she says. “If they’re in a joking mood, I go with that. It’s very much being able to read a person and giving them the best experience.”
Albrecht says the work of radiologic technologists like Skylee often goes unseen, but it’s critical to patient care and improved outcomes of getting the answer they’re seeking.
“We have to know how to position the bone, how to look at that organ, how to image the heart appropriately to see if it’s blocked. The patients don’t really realize that we’re kind of the hidden heroes behind the scenes, that we create the picture to figure out what’s wrong with them,” he says. “From there, we work as a team with doctors and nurses and surgeons to help get that patient back together. But it all starts with the radiologic technologists creating that picture.”
Today, Skylee looks toward a bright future with hard-won perspective.
“I live every single day like it’s my last,” she says. “I actually have a tattoo. It says, ‘You could be gone tomorrow. Love today.’ And I think that’s very telling of how I live my life every single day and how much thankfulness I have in everything.”
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