October, 2010

An Interview with Carl McIntyre

by Karen Petit on October 27, 2010

Carl McIntyre

Carl McIntyre had achieved success as an actor in movies, theatre and television commercials. Married and the father of three children, McIntyre was living the all-American dream in Charlotte, N.C.

And then, the unexpected happened.

While rocking his son to sleep, McIntyre said his right arm and leg began to grow numb. “And I was mad. I was holding him tight with my left hand, and I was mad that something was wrong.” Continue reading the full article

He Used To Be…

by Barbara B. Shadden on October 20, 2010

Identity Thief

You should have known Bob before the stroke. He was so smart… so funny… so sensitive…

I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard something like those words. Sadly, family and friends sometimes do believe that the stroke and resulting aphasia truly changed who the person was. Why is that? Continue reading the full article

Travel and Aphasia

by Ognjen Todic on October 13, 2010

Packed Suitecase, Hat, and Umbrella

A few weeks ago Eileen Erickson shared with us a great story – “He’s a Traveling Man” – about a first-time travel experience after her husband, Paul’s, stroke. Eileen’s post is full of various tips on traveling for the first time after a stroke. I strongly recommend this article to anybody who hasn’t read it yet.

What follows below is a digest of Eileen’s post and its comments, in a bulleted list of travel tips. Continue reading the full article

What does it take to live successfully with aphasia?

by Kyla Brown on October 6, 2010

Painting done with the left hand by person with aphasia

Life doesn’t stop because you or your loved ones have aphasia. Sometimes it is easy to focus on all of the negative changes that come with a stroke and aphasia – life will probably have changed in many ways. But there is definitely more to life than aphasia! So what can you do to move on and live successfully? Can you find a way to focus on the positives instead of those negatives?

Living successfully with aphasia – what people with aphasia say

Over the past few years I have had the pleasure of talking to people with aphasia in Australia as part of a research project on living successfully with aphasia. I talked to 25 people with aphasia for many hours of interviews (all of the quotes included are from people with aphasia). Here is what these people with aphasia describe as important for living successfully: Continue reading the full article