Thank you. I am delighted to speak with this Grassroots Advocacy group today.
Almost three years ago this month, I had an aneurysm on my aorta and suffered a stroke, which left me with aphasia a COMMUNICATION DISABILITY, and apraxia, a motor planning disability. My life changed. My ability to speak, understand, read, and write was reduced. Because of on going speech therapy and a positive outlook, there has been some improvement since then. But I fight every day to gain back the skills I lost in the Spring of 2002.
This year, I became active in a local stroke support group - the Stroke Comeback Center Each week, local stroke survivors come together and practice our communication skills as well as discuss ways to let other survivors know about our group so that they , too, can be active in their own rehabilitation. Right now, we are contacting local health care facilities to educate them on the value of this type of support network. In this way, they can refer other survivors to our group for support! Our local team - a diverse group of survivors will visit health care professionals and their teams and actually speak with them about stroke survivor support.
We also support stem cell research. We know approving this research will move us faster to a cure in our lifetime. Cloned stem cells can replace ones that failed in people like me with aphasia. This research will be instrumental in the treatment of heart, kidney, and liver disease victims as well. . One of these diseases will affect you personally at some time in your life.
I'd like to quote Sir Winston Churchill - a sufferer of Alzheimer's disease and a relative of mine, If he were alive today he would join us as a vocal supporter of continued research. As he closed congress almost 60 years ago he said…..