After my stroke, I'm grateful for family, friends and goodness in our country | Bill Janz
After I suffered a stroke more than a year ago, I had a distinct advantage when people expressed hatred on the internet and in news stories.
I couldn’t read.
Now I’m worried about losing a bit of that advantage because I’ve learned to read headlines in the newspaper, and some sentences.
I can’t type, so my daughter, Jacqueline, is taking my terrible dictation.
I want to celebrate the people who showed me I still had life. They wouldn’t let me give up. The first person I want to solute is my wife, Bernie. We attended the Marquette University College of Journalism long ago. A student, Bernie, also worked in the dean’s office registering students for the semester.
When it came my term to register, she noticed I had forgotten to put my phone number on the registration.
“What’s your phone number?” she asked.
“What’s yours?” I replied.
That was 64 years ago when we not only gave each other our phone numbers, but the rest of our lives. I’ve always told Bernie I got the better of the deal.
Milwaukee Public Library assisted with recordings of books
When the stroke erased the names of many friends and stopped me from going to one of my beloved bookstores, I sometimes cried. But Bernie wouldn’t put up with it.
The first thing she did probably saved my life. She contacted the great Milwaukee Public Library. The library has loaned me dozens of recordings of books. I’m again connected to words, and they are beautiful.
Bernie also doesn’t let me forget another problem — the five times a day I have to inject myself with insulin because I’ve had for Diabetes 1 since 1947, thousands and thousands of injections ago.
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And diabetes didn’t stop me from traveling all over the world when editors sent me off on assignments. Luckily, the stroke didn’t destroy memories of all of my trips, especially one.
The Sentinel sent me and a great photographer, Dale Guldan, to look for tigers.
Dale and I were sitting on an elephant’s back in a remote area of India, when a tiger charged us. The tiger leaped and struck the back leg of our elephant. We were held in place by bars across our laps, but when the elephant lurched, my hand came up and knocked the bar loose. There was nothing but air between me and the tiger.
A woman on another elephant said later, “I thought you were going to fall.”
But our guide, on another elephant, had his huge beast charge the tiger with the guide yelling. And the tiger ran into the bush.
Even my stroke recently couldn’t make me forget what our elephant did then.
The elephant began to tremble.
During my career I wrote about incredible people in Wisconsin
Although I traveled, I primarily wrote about the incredible people in Wisconsin. Sadly, the stroke has ridden me of the memories of most of them.
But I can’t forget Eddie Griffin, who couldn’t read or write. For 30 years he worked for Saint Benedict the Moor Church in Milwaukee. He lifted and he carried; he swept rooms and he shoveled snow. He did what the church needed. For no pay.
Mr. Griffin, as I politely called him, said he saw a barefoot man and Brother Chuck “pulled off his shoes and gave them to the man.”
I still recall, decades ago, a group of people — about 50 people — with their heads shaved.
When a police officer saw them, he asked, “Is this a new gang?”
No, it was just the friends and family of Manuel Garcia. He had cancer and lost his hair.
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When he got out of hospital, his friends had taken off their hair, too.
Mr. Garcia’s then 5-year-old son, explained the baldness to his father.
“Because we love you,” the boy said.
A sanitation worker, Mr. Garcia had dozens and dozens of friends and family who wouldn’t let him die alone.
I wish I could remember many more stories, but the stroke took them from me. Often, I don’t even remember my address.
Amid the hate I see on TV, I embrace goodness in our country
Sometimes I wish my address was on another planet. TV news hurts with talks of anti-Blacks, anti-Jews, anti-Muslims, anti-Asians, anti-gays, and anti-everyone-but-whites. The only thing I hate is H-A-T-E.
Maybe I should handle hate with how I handle my illnesses – with Bernie and our amazing children, Jacqueline, Jennifer, and Scott, whom Bernie influenced magically.
Oh, one more thing. I have to credit humor. I’ve gotten an abundance from many friends, including our wonder family-friend, Jerry Resler, and, occasionally, Family Circus — when I can decipher it.
It’s taken me months (don’t laugh), but I’ve accomplished what I set out to do — push a few paragraphs together to come up with a story. The last one. I can only read slowly what I’ve written, and I often stumble.
And, since you’ve gotten this far, I’ll reward you with a bit of that humor.
My favorite comedian is Steven Wright who said, “It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it.”
Humor aside, I’ll sum up by saying that despite the incredible help of doctors, there is no magical potion for health.
But what the haters ignore is what I use to keep alive — the goodness that surrounds us in this country. I’m never far from love and kindness, I’m never far from Bernie and the family. I’m never far from you, my friends.
Bill Janz was a reporter and columnist at the Milwaukee Sentinel and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for more than 40 years before retiring. On assignment, he also wrote stories from Argentina, Israel, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Botswana, France, Hawaii and other states in the U.S.
May is national stroke awareness month
Five facts from the American Heart Association:
Stroke kills brain cells. It happens when a clot or rupture interrupts blood flow to the brain. Without oxygen-rich blood, brain cells die.
Types of stroke. Ischemic caused by a clot, Hemorrhagic caused by a rupture and Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) or “warning stroke” caused by a temporary blockage.
Risk of stroke. About one in four stroke survivors is at risk for another. Fortunately, up to 80 percent of second clot-related strokes may be preventable.
Prevention is key. Had a stroke? Work with your doctor to identify the cause and create a plan to prevent another. This may include managing high blood pressure, making healthy lifestyle choices and taking medications as recommended by your doctor.
How to spot a stoke. Learn the FAST warning signs. Face Drooping; Arm Weakness; Speech Difficulty; Time to Call 911.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee columnist Bill Janz shares story for Stroke Awareness Month
