POST FALLS - Cuddled on her couch in blue jeans and bunny slippers on Wednesday, Aubrey Cleave found it hard to believe that a few months back she was in a coma at Kootenai Medical Center, doctors preparing her family for the worst.

"I consider myself 95 percent better, just because my voice is still squeaky," the 24-year-old said with a smile. "The doctors say it (my fast recovery) was mostly because of my age and motivation."

She tends to add in the grace of God, too.

Although medical experts still can't explain why Aubrey suffered a sudden paralysis and slipped into a semicoma in late January, she has flown through a swift recovery in the past several weeks, retraining herself to walk and speak.

Nearly back to normal, she said it has all made her a little more spiritual.

"I'm so grateful to be alive, to be breathing on my own, and walking and talking," she said. "I cherish every moment now."

So far, doctors have only been able to tell her she likely contracted some kind of virus that led to brain inflammation.

Aubrey has interesting memories of the illness, she said.

"The whole time I was in my coma, I could hear everything," she said. "I could hear them talking about intubating me and I thought, 'Oh no, please don't do it!' Because I didn't want that nasty scar."

After coming out of the coma a few days later, her recovery was surprisingly rapid, she said. She started with simple physical therapy at KMC that involved working the lower extremities.

It was when she was transferred to St. Luke's Rehabilitation Institute in Spokane that she impressed herself, though, she said.

The first day she couldn't stand, she said - but by the second day she was walking on her own.

"Whenever I got frustrated, I always sang this song to myself, even through my rehab - 'Oh no, never let go, through the pain and through the storm,'" she quoted. "I tried to stay extremely positive through the whole thing."

Especially when her family was visiting, she said, adding that her husband, Gabe, and her mother were constantly by her side.

"I thought of jokes all day long so I could make them laugh," she said. "I didn't want them to be sad around me. I tried to lighten up the mood."

She returned to her and Gabe's Post Falls home on Feb. 26, and gradually weaned herself off a walker.

Gabe, 25, said they think they can handle the medical bills of her one-month hospital stay, thanks to benefits held by family and friends.

The whole experience has brought the couple closer together, he added.

"It's the hardest thing we've gone through. Being only eight months into our marriage, it's definitely not how we wanted to start out our first year," he said. "But I wouldn't take it back, with all the things we've learned. If I can have faith that God can heal my wife, there's nothing I can't trust him with."