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Back in September of 2018, life was going very well for my wife Linda and me. We were grateful for the love we shared and for our relationships with family and friends. We enjoyed relatively good health and walked together four to six times each week. I was concluding the first year of a new counseling private practice. This private practice was developing in the direction I had hoped it would.
The evening of September 18th 2018, we had just gone to bed when I suffered a significant hemorrhagic stroke/ brain hemorrhage to the right hemisphere of my brain. I was transported by ambulance to a local emergency room and after a day, transferred to a Portland trauma hospital where I underwent emergency brain surgery to relieve pressure on my brain and attempt to limit further injury to my brain from continued bleeding.
As a result of my stroke, the left side of my body was paralyzed. I am no longer able to perform the activities of daily living (dressing, grooming, bathing, toileting, ambulating or walking) without the assistance of a caregiver. I was discharged from the hospital to a skilled nursing facility and after 6 weeks transferred to an acute rehabilitation program for 2 weeks.
Since December, 2018, I have been at home with the assistance of a full-time caregiver. My primary goal and focus since returning home has been to learn to walk again so I can function more independently. I have come to believe that the extent that I recover from my stroke and regain functional independence is in God’s hands, however, I have diligently worked to do my part to promote my body to heal through physical and occupational therapy and exercises on my own.
Since my stroke, we have been blessed with the support and assistance of family, friends, health professionals and caregivers. My wife Linda has been unwavering in her love, encouragement, support and caregiving for me. My primary motivation to recover is so that as Linda faces the inevitable challenges of aging, I can be there for her as her partner instead of being a burden as I am now.
I am scheduled to begin a neuro-rehabilitation program in Canada on October 1, 2020 at the Surrey Neuroplasticity Clinic. The clinic utilizes new technology, the PONS (Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator) which was invented at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It has been licensed in Canada but not yet in the United States. *I have included a description of the program after the end of this story.
This program is not covered by Medicare or my Medicare supplemental health insurance. All fees and related costs (approximately $30,000) will be out-of-pocket costs for Linda and me. In the past 18 months since my stroke, we have incurred thousands of dollars in medical and stroke-related costs. We have created this Go Fund Me campaign to make it financially viable for me to participate in this rehabilitation program.
I have been the recipient of many blessings throughout my life. My stroke has helped me to realize that I took many of these for granted and failed to be grateful for so many of life’s everyday blessings. I now try to practice gratitude for these blessings each day.
I was blessed with a career devoted to attempting to assist others as a counselor. Prior to my stroke I had the capacity to participate actively in and navigate life independently. It has been truly humbling to be stripped of these capacities and to be dependent on others to perform even the simplest task. I desperately want to regain movement to the left side of my body and regain functional independence.
A primary blessing that the experience of my stroke has given me is a new-found faith in a higher power. I pray every day for God’s healing energy to heal my brain injury and restore functional movement to my left side. I am sincerely grateful to the family and friends who have been praying for me.
It is both humbling and uncomfortable to be the subject/recipient of a Go Fund Me campaign. Based upon my research, I believe this neuro-rehilitation program offers me the best opportunity to learn to walk again and recover functional independence. Any assistance or prayers that you could channel to us would be greatly appreciated.
Gratefully, Mike & Linda
* The rehabilitation program:This program, which is 14 weeks in duration, involves engaging in two physical therapy sessions each day, five days per week while using the PONS device. There is also a home session done each evening using the PONS device. The first two weeks are spent at the clinic in Canada. These two weeks of the program in Canada are done on an outpatient basis, so we will need to stay in a hotel. I will then return home to Oregon with the PONS device and continue the same schedule of two physical therapy sessions each day and one home session each evening using the PONS device, for the remaining 12 weeks. I will then return to the clinic in Canada for post-treatment assessments.
The evening of September 18th 2018, we had just gone to bed when I suffered a significant hemorrhagic stroke/ brain hemorrhage to the right hemisphere of my brain. I was transported by ambulance to a local emergency room and after a day, transferred to a Portland trauma hospital where I underwent emergency brain surgery to relieve pressure on my brain and attempt to limit further injury to my brain from continued bleeding.
As a result of my stroke, the left side of my body was paralyzed. I am no longer able to perform the activities of daily living (dressing, grooming, bathing, toileting, ambulating or walking) without the assistance of a caregiver. I was discharged from the hospital to a skilled nursing facility and after 6 weeks transferred to an acute rehabilitation program for 2 weeks.
Since December, 2018, I have been at home with the assistance of a full-time caregiver. My primary goal and focus since returning home has been to learn to walk again so I can function more independently. I have come to believe that the extent that I recover from my stroke and regain functional independence is in God’s hands, however, I have diligently worked to do my part to promote my body to heal through physical and occupational therapy and exercises on my own.
Since my stroke, we have been blessed with the support and assistance of family, friends, health professionals and caregivers. My wife Linda has been unwavering in her love, encouragement, support and caregiving for me. My primary motivation to recover is so that as Linda faces the inevitable challenges of aging, I can be there for her as her partner instead of being a burden as I am now.
I am scheduled to begin a neuro-rehabilitation program in Canada on October 1, 2020 at the Surrey Neuroplasticity Clinic. The clinic utilizes new technology, the PONS (Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator) which was invented at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It has been licensed in Canada but not yet in the United States. *I have included a description of the program after the end of this story.
This program is not covered by Medicare or my Medicare supplemental health insurance. All fees and related costs (approximately $30,000) will be out-of-pocket costs for Linda and me. In the past 18 months since my stroke, we have incurred thousands of dollars in medical and stroke-related costs. We have created this Go Fund Me campaign to make it financially viable for me to participate in this rehabilitation program.
I have been the recipient of many blessings throughout my life. My stroke has helped me to realize that I took many of these for granted and failed to be grateful for so many of life’s everyday blessings. I now try to practice gratitude for these blessings each day.
I was blessed with a career devoted to attempting to assist others as a counselor. Prior to my stroke I had the capacity to participate actively in and navigate life independently. It has been truly humbling to be stripped of these capacities and to be dependent on others to perform even the simplest task. I desperately want to regain movement to the left side of my body and regain functional independence.
A primary blessing that the experience of my stroke has given me is a new-found faith in a higher power. I pray every day for God’s healing energy to heal my brain injury and restore functional movement to my left side. I am sincerely grateful to the family and friends who have been praying for me.
It is both humbling and uncomfortable to be the subject/recipient of a Go Fund Me campaign. Based upon my research, I believe this neuro-rehilitation program offers me the best opportunity to learn to walk again and recover functional independence. Any assistance or prayers that you could channel to us would be greatly appreciated.
Gratefully, Mike & Linda
* The rehabilitation program:This program, which is 14 weeks in duration, involves engaging in two physical therapy sessions each day, five days per week while using the PONS device. There is also a home session done each evening using the PONS device. The first two weeks are spent at the clinic in Canada. These two weeks of the program in Canada are done on an outpatient basis, so we will need to stay in a hotel. I will then return home to Oregon with the PONS device and continue the same schedule of two physical therapy sessions each day and one home session each evening using the PONS device, for the remaining 12 weeks. I will then return to the clinic in Canada for post-treatment assessments.
