“After my stroke, I heard more than
once that I was never going to be able
to walk again, but I was determined to
not let that be the case,” said Mike, 58, of
Rockbridge.
Two years later, Mike has not only
achieved all of those initial goals, but
he’s setting new ones thanks to sheer
determination and a dedicated team
of speech, occupational and physical
therapists at FMC’s Outpatient Therapy
Services.
“They wanted me to do good, and they
did good by me, too,” Mike said of his
FMC therapy team. “We worked as hard
as we could and never looked back.”
Despite his memory issues, Mike can
recount in detail what happened the day
he experienced the stroke that would
temporarily rob him of his ability to walk
and talk. He recalls getting up early for
work, saying goodbye to his wife, Julie,
and then sitting in the living room until it
was time to leave.
That’s when everything went black.
“I woke up two hours later on the floor
and I couldn’t talk or move,” Mike said.
“I could hear the phone ringing and my
dog was licking my face. I noticed that
she would look at the phone and then
look back at me.”
Mike knew that his survival greatly
depended on him getting to the phone
before it stopped ringing. He tried to
crawl, but when that didn’t work, he
rolled from his back onto his stomach
and dragged himself across the room.
“I could hear the voice of my boss on
the other end,” said Mike, a former crane
operator for Ironfab in Columbus. “I
couldn’t talk to him, but I could hear his
voice. He said, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong
with you, but I’m calling for help.’ I had
never been late for work a day in my life,
so when I hadn’t shown up that morning,
he knew something was wrong.”
Mike’s boss alerted 9-1-1 and then Mike’s
family, who rushed over to stay with him
until help arrived. Mike was transported
by helicopter to Riverside and then
to The Ohio State University Wexner
Medical Center, where he remained for
the first part of his recovery.
The months that followed were
challenging for Mike. His language was
altered to the point where he initially
could only speak curse words. He
couldn’t walk or raise his arms. His chest
hurt constantly. During his time at Ohio
State, he had a stent procedure. When
doctors discovered a separate issue with
his heart, they put in a pacemaker and
defibrillator.
“One day, I overheard one of the doctors
say, ‘his arm and his leg aren’t good, he
probably won’t walk again or be able to
raise his arm’,” Mike recalls.
Those words were all it took to light a
fire inside of Mike. When he started his
therapy, first at Ohio State and then at
FMC’s Outpatient Therapy Services, he
decided he was going to do whatever it
took to recover from his stroke.
Joel Burns, a physical therapist assistant
at FMC’s Occupational Therapy Services,
said Mike’s determination to overcome
his stroke was inspiring.
“We kept finding new ways to challenge
him to help him achieve his goals and he
never backed down from that challenge“
Joel said.
Denise Jones, also a physical therapist
assistant at FMC’s Outpatient Therapy
Services, agreed that Mike’s dedication
to therapy was apparent from the very
beginning.
“The work he has put into therapy has
helped him tremendously,” Denise said.
“If we told him to do stuff at home, he
would do it, and then do it again.”
Following the completion of Mike’s
therapy, the staff invited him to take part
in their Independent Exercise program,
which allows motivated patients
to continue to use the equipment
whenever they want for an extended
period of time.
“So many of them have been
tremendous; the entire time, they
continued to encourage both him and
me,” Julie said. “They are an awesome
group of people and like family to us.”
Mike said being able to participate in the
Independent Exercise program following
the completion of his therapy has
been truly instrumental in his recovery
process. Today, he’s walking without a
cane and is more flexible than he was
before the stroke.
“I can’t do some of the things I did
before, but I can do other things I never
thought were possible,” Mike said. “Every
day when I go to Outpatient Therapy
Services, they ask me how I’m doing
and what I’m going to do today. They
do it because they care and for that, I’m
grateful.”
Megan Fowler, Mike’s speech therapist
at FMC, said Mike has since become
an advocate for others and for stroke
recovery.
“I have passed by him time and time
again in our gym while he is listening to
and encouraging another patient in their
recovery,” Megan said. “He understands
the importance of the rehabilitation
process and is quite convincing to
others who may have their doubts.
Mike’s motivation to improve his own
communication skills and share his
experience in an effort to help others is
optimism at its finest.”
Additional information about the FMC Stroke Care program can be found by
http://www.fmchealth.org/stroke.aspx.
For more information on the FMC Therapy Services,
visit http://www.fmchealth.org/our-services/outpatient-therapy/physical-thearapy-sports.aspx