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THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1994
TV listings, 6-7
Stroke Survivors Offer Encouragement To Others
BY SUSAN USHER
John Warring talks eagerly about winning?one day
at a time, and only with the help of others. He's
neither an athlete nor a politician. He is a stroke
survivor.
Over the past year John and his wife Marcia have
learned to measure succcss in barely perceptible incre
ments and to celebrate small joys.
On April 6, 1993, just two days past his 65th birthday,
John tried to rise from bed and collapsed in apoplexy.
His legs and arms wouldn't follow marching orders. The
pain in his head was intense. Luckily, a visiting nephew
was there to help Marcia get her husband back into bed
and emergency medical help on its way.
John suffered a serious hemorraghic stroke. A blood
vessel in the right side of his brain ruptured. In that in
stant John lost not only full use of his left leg and arm,
but his independence and livelihood as well. He was
suddenly unable to mow the yard, drive a car, change a
tire, replace a lock.
His 35-year career as a locksmith in first Long
Island, N.Y., and then here ground to a halt, and his
wife's job with it. Marcia came home to be John's
round-the-clock caretaker. No. 1 coach and therapist.
She operates a bookkeeping service from their home.
After a week in a local hospital, John was transferred
to HealthSouth, a rehabilitation center in Florence, S.C.
For five weeks he underwent a grueling program of
physical and occupational therapy to regain partial use
of his left arm and leg. Marcia put 3,000 miles on the
family vehicle commuting.
After that came six months of trips to Wilmington
three times a week for therapy. In January he switched
to three sessions each week at The Brunswick Hospital,
now down to two sessions of occupational therapy for
his arm and hand only. John wears a lower leg brace on
his left foot and leg, and he continues physical therapy
at home.
At first John couldn't stand, much less walk or pick
up something with his left hand.
"One day you're fine and then you're severely handi
capped. A stroke is very, very devastating," he recalls a
year later. "Your caregiver gets a stroke too."
Along with anger and frustration, depression is one of
the biggest obstacles to recovery for stroke survivors.
Circumstances force them to redefine who they are and
how they relate to others.
"You're not the same person. I had always done
everything around the house. You have to realize you
can't do it, and that's very hard to accept."
Close to tears, John candidly admits he could never
have made it through the year without the grace experi
enced as family members, friends, healthcare profes
sionals and their stroke support group surrounded
Marcia and him in love, understanding and encourage
ment.
"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for them," he says.
That support took many forms.
When John couldn't be left alone, couples like Dick
and Carol Good and Rhonder and Marilyn Barbee called
and arranged to stay with him, giving Marcia respite
time to attend meetings, run errands and have some time
alone.
Fellow boater and Shallotte River Power Squadron
member Rev. John Richardson convinced John to enroll
in a seamanship and boating class. He was among four
of six students who failed the weather course final exam.
He passed an engine maintenance course with flying
colors, drawing on his handyman experience and a stint
as a U.S. Army battalion motor sergeant during the
Korean conflict. He received word this week that he
passed the seamanship course.
The Warrings recently toured the county's Emergency
Medical Services building with the squadron and will
check out John's maneuvering on and off a boat on an
upcoming waterway trip to Barefoot Landing aboard
squadron Commander Dewey Adams' The Bounty
Hunter.
John anxiously looks forward to the day he can re
turn the family boat Our Tern to the water, fondly recall
ing trips on the waterway between Figure 8 Island and
Charleston Harbor. "We won't be able to take her out
this year, but maybe next year," he says.
Cheers came from the congregation of Seaside United
Methodist Church the first Sunday John left his wheel
STAW PHOTO BY SUSAN USHER
STROKE SURVIVOR John Waning of Sunset Beach, shown with his wife, Marcia, walks mostly with
the aid of a cane after a year of intensive therapy and expects to continue making gains over the com
ing years. He's encouraging adults to learn about stroke prevention and wants to offer his support to
fellow stroke victims during recovery.
chair and used a cane to walk up the aisle to take com- "frozen" before microsurgery.
munion. He no longer relies on his wheelchair in public places.
The Warrings are forming fast friendships with other He walks into restaurants, using a slender cane, and no
couples in their support group of stroke survivors (most- longer worries that someone might be staring.
ly men) and caregivers (mostly women) that meets 10 One recent morning, he walked 20 feet back and forth
a.m. each Wednesday in the Food Court at Briarcliffe across a room.
Mall in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. "I'm imagining I'm holding my granddaughter's
Some have just begun the road to recovery, others are arm," John said in a determined voice as he pulled him
two to three years along it. Most are about John and self from the recliner and turned to cross the carpeted
Marcia's age, in their 50's and 60's. They share advice, floor of their home on the Sunset Beach mainland. Ever
offer encouragement, enjoy outings together, and join so slowly, he edged forward about 10 feet, then reward
each other in laughter and tears, bound by their common ed himself with a filled chocolate chip cookie from a
experiences. Marcia's dubbed the group "The Wednes- tray on the coffee table. He returned to his chair, quite
day Winners." tired.
"We have a good time and we help each other," says It's a milestone on the long road of recovery: The first
Marcia, "It's good to have someone to talk to who un- time he has walked without a cane or someone's arm in
derstands what you're going through." nearly 12 months. Tears fill his eyes and those of Marcia
Today the tasks John can do may seem simple, but are and a visitor.
marvelous achievements. With his left hand he can pick "I wonder what I'll be doing a year from now?" he
up marbles and buttons. He can hold a telephone receiv- asks, clearly optimistic as he reflects on his achieve
er, then lift it to his ear using a shoulder that was ments.
The Warning Signs
Symtoms or warning signs of
stroke and transient ischemic attack
(TIA), or a temporary interruption of
the blood supply to the brain, are
similar, though they may last
momentarily with TIA.
Any one or more of these
warnings should prompt a call or
visit to your doctor:
? sudden inability to speak, or to
understand speech, or both
? sudden numbness, weakness or
paralysis on one or both sides of the
body
? weakness or clumsiness of an
arm or hand
? loss of balance
? dizziness
? difficulty swallowing
? slurring or slowness of speech
? sudden impairment of vision
Prevention Lifestyle
Stroke is the leading cause of
disability in older adults, the Number
2 killer of women over 60, and the
third most frequent cause of death
among men.
It doesn't have to be that way. A
majority of strokes can be prevented
through lifestyle changes. To reduce
your risk of stroke:
? exercise regularly
? maintain weight at the
recommended range
? moderate intake of alcohol
? give up smoking
? control high blood pressure
? follow a healthy, low
cholesterol diet
Marcia and John have met other stroke survivors who
simply gave up and stopped trying when progress came
too slowly.
"When you have a stroke, never give up," says
Marcia. "I'm never going to stop challenging him."
From their support group, they've learned that perse
verance pays; improvements may continue for two and
three years or longer after a stroke.
John's experience also brought home advice he'd
heard before and heeded, and that he likes passing on:
"Retire as soon as you can and enjoy yourself because
something is going to happen. Don't put things off."
John and Marcia Warring aren't winners on Wednes
days only, but every day of the week, encouraging each
other and others in similar situations.
John's own urge to help others is stronger than ever.
He especially wants to reach out to people who have
suffered strokes and can use encouragement and a role
model for recovery. The two welcome calls, and new
members for The Wednesday Winners support group.
They can be reached at 579-9474.
WOOD STORKS wade through shallow water and marshes in search of fish, frogs, reptiles and insects.
Our Only Stork
BY BILL FAVER sticks and twigs made into a platform.
The wood stork was one of the few Nests are usually in colonies in the tallest
large water birds to escape being trees available. Three or four whitish eggs
killed for the millinery trade are incubated for about 30 days and then
around the tum of the century. Its rough- the young fly in about 50-55 days,
looking, naked head had no feathers to According to Birds of the Carolinas,
adorn women's hats and it had little value wood storks are a "fairly common
for its meat. The large summer resident and uncommon winter
birds were cautious resident of coastal South Carolina from
and stayed away from Georgetown southward." In summer and
humans until their early autumn, wood storks move
habitat became so northward and have been observed near
diminished they had Sunset Beach and at Orton Plantation in
few places left to go. our County.
Wood storks are After feeding, members of a flock may
our only stork in gather in the top of a dead tree to sun and
North America and digest their catch. Or they may soar high
are 35-45 inches long overhead if the air currents are to their
KAVER with tall, long legs. liking.
They are mostly white with the short tail Storks fly with necks stretchcd straight
and back part of the wings black. The ahead and long legs trailing behind. They
long bill is thick and down-curved. The alternately flap and glide and the black on
dark, scaly-looking, unfeathered head their tail and back edges of the wings are
gives it the common names of "ironhead" good clues to identification,
or "flinthead". In recent years, numbers have declined
Storks generally prefer swamps and due to land development, lumbering, and
marshes, where they feed on fish, frogs, drainage of feeding grounds, all causing
reptiles and insects. They wade through loss of the habitat they need to survive,
still ponds, drying marshes, and along Most of the remaining birds are in south
lakes and streams, using the feet to probe Georgia and Florida with some in
for food as they move forward. southern swamps from South Carolina to
Sometimes the outstretched 51/2-foot Texas. Wood storks are also found in
wingspread and the uplifted foot give the Central and South America.
impression of dancing as the stork feeds. Wc can hope we will continue to have
Nests are built as high as 80 feet above some of these unique birds in our area
ground and are a flimsy collection of during the summer.