Realities Of A Stroke

Cleothus Bell is a three-time stroke survivor. He had his first stroke on June 6, 2002 at the age fifty-two. His second stroke was on December 2, 2002, and his third stroke was on February 16, 2009. Nine years before his first stroke, he was employed as a demolition inspector for the city of East St. Louis, Illinois. He remained in this position for three years before he received a promotion to demolition director. After working as a demolition director, he transferred to Saint Clair County and worked as a demolition coordinator until his second stroke occurred. This is the story of a three time stroke survivor. A man faced with enormous challenges after losing the use of both arms and both legs from a stroke. And after four weeks of inpatient rehabilitation was released from therapy with little hope for improvement. With a body so weak and so easily fatigued his efforts during three additional months of outpatient rehabilitation produced only minimal results. Determined to prove the experts wrong, he devoted every second of every day working to minimizing his disabilities. Then one day about five months later, instead of giving up, he got busy. He decided to develop his own workout plan. After working on cognitive, physical and occupational skills from January 01, 2010 to April 30, 2010, brought his body back to life. He is now walking with the use of a quad cane and cooks dinner for his family two to three days a week. If you are a patient, don't miss one minute of therapy, whether it's in a rehabilitation program or while in your home. Learn what to do from the therapist because their time with you is limited and your insurance provider has a limited amount of money to put towards your recovery. Even though the odds seem to be against you, and when others are in doubt about your future, and sometimes when you are in doubt yourself, you must know that with determination, motivation and perseverance, you can turn the table of hope in your favor. My objective in putting my story into words is not to try to make you happy or sad, but hopefully to assist you in thinking about and understanding some of the circumstances that might happen that could play a significant role in your life during your recovery from a stroke. Cleothus hopes by sharing his story, that it will help other stroke survivors, their families, their friends, medical personnel, medical facilities, and yes, hopefully, insurance providers.