Indelibly imprinted on the heart of this reclusive writer is the moment I walked from the darkness of a damp December night into the joyful, merry ambience of the Christmas celebration of the Laredo Stroke Support Group (LSSG).
Eighty stroke survivors, the founders and executive director, staff, and volunteers of the LSSG – all awash in the camaraderie of kindness, gratitude, compassion, resilience, and perseverance; all bound to the shared mission of recovery through advocacy and programming – filled the room with the bright lights of their courage.
Deedee and Bill Hrncir with LSSG staff.
One of the most poignant high notes of the celebration was that the evening’s music was performed by stroke survivors Luis Rangel Jr. on the guitar and Jesse Martinez at the keyboard.
Jesse at the piano
Deedee Hrncir, vice-president of the board of the Laredo Stroke Support Group, offered a welcome and a prayer to the gathering. (PRAYER)
She is a co-founder the support group with her husband Bill, who suffered a stroke in 2006. In the aftermath of that life-altering event and with the firsthand understanding of the limited, short-term resources insurance companies provide stroke survivors, the Hrncirs organized monthly meetings to network with area stroke survivors and their caregivers.
A merry time at the LSSG Christmas party.
The group held its first meeting as the Laredo Stroke Survivors Group in September 2012 at Doctor’s Hospital. In September of 2014, LSSG became a 501©3C nonprofit organization, and thereafter continued to fulfill its purpose to fill a void in stroke support, treatment, and prevention services.
Through partnerships and advocacy efforts, LSSG has compiled extensive resources to help educate survivors and community members about the latest advancements in stroke rehabilitation and prevention, proper nutrition, and exercise. This undertaking ultimately led to the development of a program that increased the accessibility of essential therapy services at no cost, guaranteeing a stroke survivor a safety net of support and opportunity.
LSSG Team Adrian Delgadillo, Karla Cortez, Lily Campos, Victoria Balli.
“A new study has found that around two percent of COVID-19 survivors may experience a stroke in their lifetime. This in addition to the already 800,000 who suffer a stroke annually in the U.S.,” said Karla Cortez, who has served since 2021 as Executive Director of the LSSG. “We believe that now more than ever our program is crucial to stroke survivors in the community. Our organization is the only program that provides free therapy services to stroke survivors in the Laredo area. What we offer is the coalescence of the essential components of rehabilitation: therapy, encouragement, and unity.
Adrian Delgadillo and Sylvia Castaño
“What began as monthly meetings has evolved into multiple weekly activities that incorporate therapeutic needs into group classes that are fun,” Cortez continued.
She said that most stroke survivors need therapy in at least one area – speech, physical, or occupational. “The variety of classes we offer, which include strength training, tennis, water cycling, basketball, biking, art, and gardening, have all been adapted to stroke survivors and their abilities. They can feel successful and capable regardless of where they are in the recovery process,” she said.
According to Cortez, the LSSG program stresses the importance of camaraderie and reintegrating a sense of self. “Oftentimes, survivors are plagued by depression and a loss of identity after their stroke. They retreat into isolation and cease to participate in any social outings. LSSG hosts at least one recreational event per month, such as game nights, craft parties, and outings to the movies. These activities enrich the lives of the survivors and continue to foster the growth of companionship.”
She said that beyond the group classes for 57 survivors, LSSG offers individualized speech therapy through a unique partnership with Austin Speech Labs, and that as of 2014, the program has provided speech therapy via Zoom to survivors impaired by aphasia – the language impairment that affects the ability to communicate.
“For many,” Cortez continued, “It is the most difficult deficit to overcome. Untreated speech disorders pose a significant threat to interpersonal relationships, mental and physical health, and overall recovery. The severity is dependent on the extent of damage the brain has suffered, and it can manifest in one’s ability to read, write, comprehend, speak, and even swallow in the most severe cases.”
Cortez, who took the helm of the LSSG in 2021, said that treating communication disorders requires a long-term commitment, extending far beyond the time allotted by insurance companies. “For those without insurance, the cost of speech therapy is excessive, and families opt-out and cope as best they can to establish communication once again. By affiliating with Austin Speech Labs and covering the cost and lending laptops to those in the class, we are able to provide quality and intensive therapy at no cost to the survivors. Without our group, over 50 survivors would go without necessary rehabilitative services, leaving many without speech, mobility, and emotional support. We continue to meet with survivors and caregivers in need, and we anticipate meeting many others as we maintain our outreach and advocacy efforts.”
She said that as stroke victims become survivors, the focus of the LSSG program “remains on the resiliency and capacity to build on the things that stroke cannot take away. An investment in our program is an investment in the certainty of future goodness. No matter the challenges ahead, we want survivors to know they are not alone. We refuse to accept the notion that the possibility of recovery is limited to only a few weeks or months post-stroke. Our work exemplifies perseverance and faith in what is left to come – an improved quality of life. We remain diligent in our mission to provide stroke survivors what they need through meaningful group encouragement, local networking support, and free therapy services.”
Jesus Perez and Gilberto García
Cortez continued, “I think I speak for all of us on the support group staff and the instructors, that our work is a shared experience filled with purpose and compassion.”
In addition to Cortez, the LSSG staff includes Program Coordinator Lilian Campos; program aides Victoria Balli and Adrian Delgadillo; and volunteer Estefania Magallanes, former program coordinator. The members of this lean, energetic team are a bounty of human capital and compassion that continues to forge the meaningful successes of the LSSG.
In addition to teaching a Decompression Class and a Basketball Class, Campos coordinates the following components of the LSSG program, listed here with instructors: Speech Therapy, Austin Speech Labs; Art, Paty Orduña; Exercise, Enid Vargas; Speech, Laura Vargas and Dr. Melissa García; Water Cycling, City of Laredo; Healthy Cooking, Texas A&M Agricultural Extension Service; Tennis, Laredo Tennis Association; Walking/Biking, the LSSG Team; and Gardening, Meg Guerra.
Cortez said LSSG aspires to include personal physical training classes, Yoga, Zumba, and another cooking class.
She said she is looking forward to the implementation of a recent grant that will allow the LSSG, the City of Laredo Health Department, Mercy Ministries, and the Ruthe B. Cowl Rehabilitation Center to share transportation amenities for those who need their services.
The board of directors of the Laredo Stroke Support Group are President and co-founder Bill Hrncir; Vice-President and co-founder Deedee Hrncir; Lydia Juarez, George Juarez, Allison Flores, Mary Freeman, Laura Vargas, Fernando Sanchez, and Beth Rueweler.
For further information on the programs and services of the Laredo Stroke Support Group, contact director Karla Cortez at (956) 775-5774.
SIDEBAR: THREE STORIES
JESSE
On his way to work in his truck, 57 year-old Jesse began to receive signals from his body that something was gravely amiss.
“Eyes burning, shortness of breath, erratic driving, and the inability to get myself to bring up names on my telephone. A man pulled up to ask if I needed help. He ended up talking to my son and my wife. I passed out, but came to a bit in the ambulance. Later I knew I was in the emergency room when I woke to see that I had tubes in my arms and my nose.
“My wife, children, siblings, and mother were there. The doctor told my wife that I had not responded to three administrations of meds, but that he would attempt one more. He advised my wife to tell my children and my family to prepare for the worst, which she did not do, telling them instead that I would pull through, and she was right.
“My next moment of consciousness was in the ICU, strapped down, and with an IV in my arm and oxygen to my nose.
I was trying to figure out what had happened, but I couldn’t speak. I knew the alphabet in sign language, which I had always told my children to learn. I was trying to spell out ‘what happened?’ when my daughter Samantha said, ‘He’s using sign language! That’s a W, that’s an H!’
“They brought me a pad and pen. I couldn’t see what I was writing, but I knew what I wanted to write. They caught on. I was communicating. Though a neurologist would come in now and then to ask how I was doing, he seemed inattentive. “Dr. Fernando Sanchez would later evaluate me as totally disabled.
“It was good to get home, but I was alone – my wife at work, my children at school. I attempted to do things I used to do, but often I just couldn’t. The walker was undependable because of my lack of strength. My left side was completely dead, so it was a struggle to sit up. I would use my right hand to place my left hand on the walker. I fell down a lot. I did not have the strength to use a wheelchair.
“I spent nine months in physical therapy at the Ruthe B. Cowl Center. By the time they released me, I could get in my truck, turn the ignition, and practice backing up and going forward in the driveway. Next I would park it on the street and move a couple of feet forward and a couple of feet back. Soon I went around the corner to another street and eventually a few blocks away until I lost the fear of driving.
“In therapy I worked on balance and the strength in my legs. I peaked at 10 pounds that I can move with my legs. Not all of my muscles have strengthened. Some are shot, but the ones that keep me upright and doing curls are not. I have some muscles that no longer feel sensation. Sometimes my breathing cuts off, and I am gasping for air. My energy drains when I am exercising my arms above my head. I have high blood pressure and diabetes.
“The owner of the company I worked for sold his business to a corporation that eliminated managers. I was let go, and that changed our finances. I put the needs of my family before buying my medications for about three weeks. That was a very difficult time. To pay my medical bills, we ran out our savings, cashed in our 401K, sold our wedding bands, other jewelry, and a bracelet my Dad had given me. That was a rough three or four years. I filed for bankruptcy, and all my siblings helped out.
“Over the last two years, there has been physical improvement, though I have been at a loss to help my wife and children trying to put up Christmas lights. I don’t have enough pressure in my hands to use a hammer or a drill.
“Before I left the Cowl Center, I heard about the stroke survivors group. My first experience there was an art class. I expected Crayons and coloring books, but it was water colors and acrylics.
“I practiced my ABCs so that I could learn to write my name again.
“A friend told me, ‘The person you were before the stroke is no longer here. When you woke from the stroke, you were re-born. Like a baby, you would learn to stand, walk, and use your hands.’
“I have had to learn how to live with what the stroke left me, but I can find physical strength in the stroke group’s exercise class and the water cycling aerobics class.
“Have I changed? I am more sensitive, emotional, and compassionate than I used to be.
“A typical day for me begins with making breakfast for my wife and son. Then it’s to the rec center for exercise class and to the Decompression Class with Lily. Errands and then to get home to be Mr. Mom with dishes, laundry, and sometimes making dinner.
“My family has been very present throughout this time. They have a tracker on my phone and watch. I stumble a lot, and they will be alerted if I have fallen.
“In the support group we can all relate to what we have been through and continue to experience. We can share with each other what we do to fight anxiety or to deal with a problem. It is uplifting.
“My grandfather played the harp. He encouraged me to learn guitar, but what I learned in these recent years was to play the piano.
RUBY
A former state employee, Ruby awoke the morning of November 14, 2014 feeling that she was “walking funny” and that she could not control her left arm and left leg.
An MRI confirmed that she’d suffered a stroke.
Five months of physical therapy at the Ruthe B. Cowl Rehabilitation Center helped, but not to the extent that she would be able to return to the job she’d had for 20 years as a State inspector for Day Care Licensing.
“The department didn’t take me back, but I was able to get a job with the Texas Department of Aging and Disability, hoping to reach the 25-year retirement threshold as a state employee. I felt fatigued and had memory retention issues,” she said.
She and her husband, a Laredo police officer, began walking the Chacon Creek Trail. She bought an adult trike and felt she was building up physical endurance.
Three months shy of retiring, she suffered a second stroke, this time on her right side. Despite the setback, she was able to make it to 25 years as a state employee and retired in 2017.
“Depression set in, and I spent a lot of time looking out a window to my backyard. Joining the stroke support group in 2017 changed that. The tennis class and the low impact aerobics at the Haynes Center made me more able to start tasks and finish them. I kept riding my bike, which improved my mobility. I enjoyed the art class. My anxiety level dropped, and I returned to my garden, rediscovering the excitement of blooms on my plants.
“I felt the shift from depression to recovering parts of my life. The support group took me out of the house and into this extended family that kept me physically, mentally, and socially active, and also looked out for my anxiety.
“I recognize my limitations and am aware of issues with memory retention, and sometimes I choose the wrong word, but here I am in the world again,” she said.
LILY
The commitment of this young woman to the LSSG as program coordinator is visible – heart and soul, thought and deed, rooted perhaps more deeply than what is easily explicable.
While still in her mother’s womb, Lily was diagnosed with aortic valve stenosis, and her mother Ruth was advised of the probability that if her child survived birth, she would need heart surgery at six months.
Lily’s precarious condition required balloon valvuloplasty at three months, which against daunting odds she survived.
“I’m here thanks to the pediatric cardiologist who attended me and the immense care and support my mother has given me throughout my life,” said Campos, the mother of a beautiful, inquisitive four-year-old daughter.
“I had met several members of the LSSG in 2018 at the annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s, and I felt empathy for their determination to transcend the challenges they faced,” she said.
Campos joined the LSSG in December 2021, becoming an advocate for stroke survivors whose health insurance did not cover their needs for recovery. She also sought donations for canes, walkers, and grip gloves for those who had lost sensation in their hands.
“One of the first things I understood about the group was how much they cared for each other, how much they encouraged each other in the activities they had undertaken to build up strength and mobility or to regain balance.
“I would also come to understand how much they cared for me,” she said.
In May 2021, Campos underwent open heart surgery to repair the ascending aorta aneurism and the aortic valve stenosis, and in May 2023 she graduated from TAMIU with a degree in biology and kinesiology with a concentration in exercise science.
As program coordinator for LSSG, Campos oversees all classes. The work of the Decompression Class she teaches focuses on deep stretching of upper body, leg, and lower back muscles compromised by stroke.
“The physical, mental, and social challenges of our classes quickly inform newcomers to the group that they are not alone in facing the new circumstances of their lives. The camaraderie of the group and their individual successes, such as learning to hold a paintbrush or a pen with the hand unaffected by stroke, offer invaluable support. That support for one another is one of the most important components of the work of the LSSG,” Campos said, adding “as are the instructors and their commitment, and the donors who support us.”
