Do you know someone who has been the victim of a stroke? The chances are very high, as one in six people worldwide will suffer a stroke during their lifetime. In fact, one in four adults over the age of 25 are victims of a stroke. Strokes are the second-leading cause of death worldwide.
On World Stroke Day, it is vitally important to bring awareness to learning the warning signs of a stroke, get immediate help to stroke victims, and also how to prevent strokes from occurring.
There are two types of strokes – Ischemic and Hemorrhagic. An Ischemic stroke is the most common and occurs when the brain’s blood vessels become blocked or narrowed. A Hemorrhagic stroke happens when a blood vessel leaks or ruptures. Strokes are extremely dangerous and victims can die in a matter of seconds without immediate medical attention. Also, the longer a stroke victim goes untreated, the greater the potential for brain damage or disability.
It is essential to recognize the warning signs of a stroke FAST – Face Drooping, Arm Weakness, Speech Difficulty = Time to Call 911. The faster a stroke victim is treated, the more likely they are to recover. There are seven key factors that can help decrease the risk of heart disease and stroke – manage blood pressure, control cholesterol, reduce blood sugar, be more active, eat healthier foods, lose weight, and stop smoking.
Stroke survivors can face a major uphill climb to normal life, and in many cases, victims are severely compromised for the rest of their lives. Back in 2004, a young man named Rob Plaskas attained a legislative internship with the Illinois House Republicans and Office of the Minority Leader. Plaskas finished the internship in June 2005 and was hired as a legislative analyst. He remains on staff more than 19 years later with the Illinois House Republicans. Plaskas, a native of Oswego, is a stroke survivor, inspirational speaker, and author. He has served in several capacities with the House Republicans, including his current position as Special Projects Associate.
Plaskas, now 46, has been a beloved member of the House Republican staff for two decades. His story is one of surviving, inspiring, and thriving to this day. His ordeal is outlined in full detail in his memoir, My Fight for Recovery: A Story of Overcoming Life-Threatening Brain Surgery, which was published in 2020. Rob became inspired to write a memoir about his life back in 2016, and four years later, with the help of family and friends and his own dogged determination, Rob’s dream of writing a memoir became a reality.
“I wanted to give hope to people with disabilities and people who need hope in life, including people who feel depressed,” Plaskas stated. “They can draw inspiration from my memoir and continue fighting for a better life.”
Back during his youth in Oswego, Plaskas was active in sports and by his own admission, the ‘fairly popular guy in high school’ before he suffered a major hemorrhagic stroke during brain surgery in his junior year. Were it not for the immediate actions of medical professionals in the operating room, Rob would have lost his life.
The events leading up to that catastrophic day began at age 11, when Rob was diagnosed with a lesion next to a small scar that doctors thought was a benign tumor in his brain. After regular check-ups for a couple of years, Rob was released from doctors’ care because everything was believed to be normal in his brain. This misdiagnosis set the stage for what was to come.
Playing basketball the summer before his junior year, Rob suffered a small seizure as a result of epileptic activity in his brain. An MRI showed the tumor had grown from the size of a pea to a walnut, and immediate surgery was recommended. Rob and his family opted for surgery at a prodigious medical center in Chicago. During the surgery, as the last part of the tumor was being removed, a blood vessel in Rob’s brain erupted. And while the neurosurgeon was able to clamp the vessel almost immediately, Rob lost so much blood that he had to be put in a medically induced coma. He was within minutes or even seconds of death due to the tremendous loss of blood.
When Rob first woke up from surgery in a few days, a neurosurgery internship resident was removing staples in his skull. He recalled being in tremendous pain. Rob couldn’t talk or move anything on the right side of his body, and he also suffered from short-term memory loss and could not read or write. It took him five days to fully wake up from the surgery and medically induced coma.
Rob felt a slew of emotions, including pain, anger, sadness, and fear over the coming days and weeks, but he was determined to get better. Rob attacked his diagnosis at a rehabilitation hospital in Wheaton with renewed vigor, and within four months he was able to walk with a limp and move his right arm while learning how to speak again.
As the recovery process continued, Rob had to integrate back into life at high school and deal with friends and classmates in a decidedly different state of mind and body. Classwork and social interactions presented tremendous obstacles to overcome and those were huge emotional hurdles to deal with.
Despite the challenges, Rob graduated from high school and moved on to a local community college and then Illinois State University. At ISU, Rob’s grades and social life improved. He continued working with a speech therapist and students from the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders to increase his confidence and self-esteem. Rob was proud of his work at ISU, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies and minor in political science. He termed this achievement as a ‘major milestone.’
His first attempts at life after college included several jobs in various fields, including substitute teaching. Rob’s father helped him get a legislative internship with the House Republicans and Office of the Minority Leader in downstate Springfield, and soon thereafter Rob moved south to the capital city where he remains to this day. In another milestone moment, Rob earned his Master’s degree in Human Services from the University of Illinois Springfield in 2014.
“I’m proud of my severe brain injury because of what I was after my brain surgery to what I am today,” Plaskas stated. “I think I’ve succeeded in getting nearly all of myself back – I think I’m at 95 percent today.”
Rob had other motivating factors to writing the memoir, including setting the record straight and getting his entire story out for everyone to read, including friends and former classmates he interacted with in high school, college and professional life.
“Only a couple of people knew what really happened to me,” Plaskas stated. “Most knew I had a severe injury of some kind, but the memoir helped tell my story to everyone.”
Currently, Rob takes epilepsy medication twice a day. He still deals with minor limitations to his fingers on his right hand, especially his thumb. Rob must maintain vigilance every day with his diet, exercise, and medications as part of his overall recovery process.
Rob noted that he loves fantasy football and handshakes with his right hand, another milestone achievement that only came about after a medication change in recent years. Prior to that change, Rob was still dealing with severe limitations with his right hand and finger movements.
As part of his daily routine, Rob walks 10,000 steps in the Capitol Complex basement and lifts weights at his gym because of his brain injury and to improve his overall health.
For more information about Rob Plaskas’ road to recovery, check out this news article and also Rob’s website.