“The last thing I expected at 38 years old was a stroke.” – Nick 

August 10, 2022, both Nick and his wife were working from home. Nick couldn’t move his hand to type and Christina heard him slurring his words and noticed his face was droopy.  They decided he should go to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a hemorrhagic stroke caused by a brain bleed.

“The last thing I expected at 38 years old was a stroke. I was scared because I couldn’t talk, the right side of my body was paralyzed…I was bedbound. I had a young family and I needed to be there for them.”

When he was stable, it was recommended he be transferred to DMC Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan (RIM). Christina says she was hopeful they could help her husband since several people had said good things about RIM.

When Nick got to RIM, he was depressed but quickly realized this was his chance to get back to his family.  He decided to put in as much effort as he could. Doing daily physical, occupational and speech therapy, he says RIM treatments were progressive - a virtual reality system to help improve his upper extremity function and vision, and the Zero G gait system which suspended him in a harness to relearn the motions of walking with less weight.

When he was discharged, he was able to walk across a room. Nick has continued outpatient therapy at RIM and today is walking unassisted, talking and back to work.

“I wasn’t living healthy.  I was busy with a young family, navigating COVID, poor eating, no exercise – it all caught up to me.  I didn’t care about myself, I’m so glad that RIM cared about me.  They made me care.  They made me want to put in the work and here I am today back living a much healthier life with my wife and kids.”