Back on his feet, 1 pedal at a time

On Friday, September 16th, Robert Coleman suffered a stroke. His carotid artery had been dissected. He was rushed to the ER and given medication to hopefully prevent a massive stroke. His left side of his body was paralyzed. He was able to talk, recognized everyone, so we thought the scariest part was over. On Saturday, September 17th, he suffered a massive stroke. The medication to prevent the massive stroke didn't work on him. He was unresponsive later that night. On Sunday, September 18th, he had emergency, life-saving surgery to remove half of his skull. The purpose of the surgery was to give his brain room to swell out, instead of down into his brain stem - which would have resulted in being brain dead. The neurosurgeon's exact words were "There's a great chance he will have major deficits, could even be a "vegetable," and that's IF he makes it through the surgery." His chances of having another stroke during the surgery were huge. This, this was the scariest part. This is where the fight began. Robert miraculously made it through the surgery. The days following were some of the hardest days. He was on a ventilator. Multiple doctors were throwing around phrases like "permanent feeding tube," permanent tracheotomy," and "nursing home for the rest of his life." The "not knowing" part was unexplainably exhausting. Our lives now revolved around visiting hours. A few days passed and something amazing happened. He began to gently squeeze our hand on command. Another day passed and he was ever-so-slightly nodding his head. He began wiggling his toes, tapping his feet to the music, and giving us a thumbs up. It was pure joy. This really gave a new meaning to "it's the small things," or "enjoy the simple things in life." Following this, as some might say small steps, in our eyes he began taking giant leaps. He opened his eyes. The ventilator was taken out. He started breathing on his own. He got moved to the step-down unit. All of this while fighting pneumonia from aspirating after the stroke, sepsis, AND staph. He went from the step-down unit, to an acute-care facility, and FINALLY to Patricia Neal Rehab. He is cognitively all here, is moving his left side - slowly, but surely, talking, keeping us all on our toes, making us laugh, and the list goes on and on. He continuously, on a daily basis, beats the odds - and we have no doubt his strength will get him through this completely. He is SO strong (and SO stubborn). It has been eight long weeks, but his discharge date is fast approaching. Not only are the medical bills adding up, but he is also in need of multiple items to help him continue his recovery from home. Norris First Baptist Church donated, and built, an amazing wheel-chair ramp for him already. Any donation will go to help relieve some of the stress of the medical bills, anything else needed to make his house wheel-chair accessible, and anything he might need along the way to help him with this process.