Help Steve raise money

October 12th 2016 started out just like any other day.  I got up in the morning, got my kids off to school and went to the gym and then to work, just like I did the day before.  There was nothing unusual about this day as it was very similar to  hundreds of other days.  I try to eat a healthy diet and stay in decent physical condition.  Certainly, there was nothing about this day or my  lifestyle that would lead anyone to suspect what was in store for me  later that afternoon.

Sometime after lunch, I returned to my office with a mild headache and slight light-headedness.  I wasn’t concerned with these symptoms as they didn’t impact my work and everything else seemed normal.  After a while, the light-headedness swirled into dizziness and confusion and I fell off my seat and landed in a heap under my desk.  My otherwise normal day took a scary turn for the worse.

I was lying on the floor alone in my office drifting in and out of consciousness.  I felt no pain and there were no alarms going off in my head telling me that something was wrong.  Instead I remember thinking "this is comfortable, I think I'll take a nap".  When I drifted back into consciousness I remember thinking, I better get up off the floor.  Not because I had come to the realization that something was wrong (I was too confused to have any rational thought).  I thought it would be embarrassing if any of my co-workers saw me laying on the floor.  I struggled mightily to get back to my seat and looked at the phone and thought I should get in touch with my wife Marie.  I still didn't think there was anything seriously wrong but I remembered that I was supposed to drive my young son to soccer practice later in the day and I knew I couldn't even walk let alone drive a car.

I saw the phone and wanted to call Marie so she could come and take  me home but I was too confused to figure out how to dial.  Somehow I  managed to use the call history to call home and luckily Marie was there  even though she wasn't due to get home until some time later.  She immediately knew that something was wrong based on my slurred speech and  confusion and told me to call 911.  I told her that I didn't know how and she got in touch with my boss who responded immediately.  The EMTs  arrived shortly thereafter and I was whisked away in an ambulance to the  ER.

It didn’t take long for the doctors to suspect that I had a stroke and a CT scan verified it.  Upon hearing the news, my first thought was to blame myself and think “what was it about my lifestyle that lead me  to this?”.  I was in Massachusetts General Hospital for several weeks under the care of a team of world-class neurologists and cardiologists who turned over every stone they could think of to find the reason why a healthy, young man had a stroke.  As I lay in my hospital bed getting  transported to test after test, day after day, I thought it was only a  matter of time before they find something wrong.  After all that  scrutiny, they never did find the reason I had a stroke or anything else wrong.  Aside from the minor deficits left behind by the stroke, I was  perfectly healthy.

Upon finally being discharged and undergoing months of rehab, there  were no suggestions by anyone along the way regarding what I should  change with my lifestyle to avoid a reoccurrence.  I no longer blame  myself or my lifestyle for having a stroke. The medical term for stroke is (CVA) Cardio Vascular Accident.  The definition of accident is “an  unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally,  typically resulting in damage or injury”.  That’s what happened inside my  body on October 12th and there was nothing I could do about it.

I was left with some minor deficits that I think of more as annoyances but I was able to get back to everything I was doing before.  A little over a year after my stroke, again while I was at work, I suffered a grand mal seizure which was deemed to be a result of the brain damage left behind by the stroke.  Fortunately for me anti-seizure medication has worked well for me.  It seems odd that I went a whole year after the stroke before suffering my first seizure but, I only lasted a few days when I went away for the long weekend and forgot to bring my medication resulting in another series of seizures.  I haven't' missed a dose since and I've been seizure free.

I truly believe I received excellent, leading-edge care every step of  the way provided by loving, knowledgeable care-givers and I can’t thank  them enough.  I’m sure much of the knowledge and treatments provided to me by my caregivers was a direct result of the previous research made  possible by the American Stroke Association.  Stroke research has come a long way but the fact that a young, healthy person can suddenly have a  stroke without warning for no known reason shows that there is still  more to learn.  During my journey through my ordeal I have witnessed and  heard stories that are a stark reminder that stroke can strike couch  potatoes, professional athletes, pre-nadal infants, the elderly and  anyone in-between.  Making progress in the prevention and treatment of  stroke benefits everyone.

I was never a runner but 10 months after having my stroke I joined Tedy's Team and ran the Falmouth Road Race and I've run it with Tedy's Team every year since.  I  joined Tedy's Team to help raise funds for stroke research and awareness and to try to give back to the community that gave so much to me throughout my recovery.  It was never my intention to benefit myself but the friendships I've made and the physical conditioning I've achieved with Tedy's Team has certainly put me in a better place.  Please join me in this endeavor to do what we can to raise money for this very worth-while cause. Thank  you for supporting Tedy's Team and The American Stroke Association.  Your  contribution is greatly appreciated.