As part of the campaign to raise public awareness about stroke and the work of the foundation, we shot a TV advertisement last winter at the farmhouse, outside, down by the river. It made sense to do it there. After all these years, it’s still the place that I call home, the place to which I have the deepest spiritual connection, to my parents and to my past. Of all the places I’ve been in the world, this is still where I feel most myself and most at peace.
The people producing the ad debated whether they should give me a script or not, and in the end, they figured they’d just let me say whatever I wanted. That seemed more natural and was fine by me. I prefer to just go with the flow. The guy with the camera stood across the river, aimed it at me and shouted, “Just say whatever comes to mind!”
At first, I thought, “What the heck am I gonna say?” I was standing there on the riverbank, holding the hand of my grandson Nathan, and I just looked out at the river and looked back at him. And then I did say what came to my mind: “To think that when I was his age, I used to come down to this very spot on the river and fish, swim and play. And here I am today, standing in the very same spot with our grandson.”
I may not have the best memory around, but I can say one thing: I know how to appreciate what’s happening in the present. I can live joyfully in the moment better than I ever did before my medical crisis. And at moments like that one, I feel as though my life truly has come full circle. It’s a blessing that fills me with happiness and gratitude.
When Phyllis and I pull up the driveway at the farm, where we hold all our family get-togethers, we walk past the door to the cellar where I dropped that paintbrush ten years ago. Inside the house, surrounded by Phyllis and our children—and our grandchildren, who come running up to me saying, “Grandpa, will you please take us fishing?”—I realize I truly am a lucky man.
AFTERWORD
I want to put my national spokesperson hat on here, and tell you a few crucial things about stroke. Most strokes are caused by a blood clot blocking the blood flow to the brain. They’re sort of like heart attacks, but in the brain (doctors call this an ischemic stroke). But mine was different, and much less common. My stroke was caused by the rupture of a blood vessel in my brain. It turns out that one of my blood vessels had a weak spot, which caused it to bulge out like a balloon. This weak spot (doctors call it an aneurysm) could have been something I was born with, or might have been caused by my accident in those early days working for Bell Canada. No one will ever really know.
What I do know is that in 1991, that weak spot gave way. The effect was like a tire blowing when you’re driving down the road— big trouble! I’d had headaches all my life but when my blood vessel burst, I had a crushing headache like nothing I’ve ever had before. It took everything in me to make it upstairs to the kitchen at the farm. I had double vision. I could hardly walk or talk.
The good news is that someone was there who recognized the signs of stroke—and reacted right away. She could see that I was in serious trouble and got me to the closest hospital in no time flat. Eventually, I was sent to Hamilton for brain surgery, but I wouldn’t have made it if someone hadn’t been there, recognized what was wrong and immediately got me to a hospital.
Doctors call the type of stroke I had a subarachnoid hemorrhage. That’s their term for uncontrolled bleeding on the surface of the brain, between the brain and the skull. The bleeding came from that burst vessel. To stop the bleeding, doctors put a clip (sort of like a clothes pin) on the blood vessel. Doctors say the clip should last for as long as I will. So I’m lucky, in that I don’t have to worry about the stroke coming back. Also, because I had a stroke caused by bleeding, I had to have a tube called a shunt implanted to drain fluid from my brain. Most stroke patients don’t need those sorts of things, but I guess I’m in a sort of special class. Only about 10 per cent of strokes are subarachnoid hemorrhages.
But no matter what kind of stroke you have, the effect is basically the same—there is damage to the brain. The brain controls everything you say, do, think and remember, so a stroke can affect a lot of different things. After a stroke, some people may be paralyzed on one side; others might have trouble talking or understanding speech. Because the brain is so complicated, a stroke can even affect your personality, how you act, or how you see or understand things. In my case, because of where the bleeding happened, the main thing that’s been affected is my memory.
I’m told that out of every four people who have a stroke, one will die, one will recover fully, one will recover but not completely and one will be left severely disabled. So I count myself as one of the lucky ones. With the help of my family, doctors and therapists, I’ve made a great recovery. If it wasn’t for my memory problems, most people would never know that I’ve had a stroke. Now, I’m working with the Heart and Stroke Foundation to help other people learn the warning signs of stroke and the need to get to the hospital right away. I feel really fortunate that the Foundation has given me the chance to use my experience to help other people. It’s my chance to keep reminding people that I’m alive today because someone knew the warning signs of stroke. I hope that someday everyone will know them. Here they are:
WARNING SIGNS OF A STROKE
Weakness
Sudden weakness, numbness or tingling in the face, arm or leg
Trouble Speaking
Sudden temporary loss of speech or trouble understanding speech
Vision Problems
Sudden loss of vision, particularly in one eye, or double vision
Headache
Sudden, severe and unusual headache
Dizziness
Sudden loss of balance, especially with any of the above signs
If you or someone you know is having any of these signs, call 911 or your local emergency number immediately.
For more information on stroke, please contact your local Heart and Stroke Foundation office.
On Family, Hockey and Healing Page 21