For Sharlene Wilson, a family emergency more than four years ago revealed a glaring hole in the support infrastructure of the community.
“My husband Richard had a stroke on March 9, 2010. After being released from the hospital we wondered where we could go for information or talk to people who experienced the same thing to see who helped them and how they could help us. We couldn’t find anything, no support groups or anyone to talk to because there wasn’t a lot out there,” she recalls.
“We did a lot of research, we had help from our speech and language therapist, our occupational therapist and physiotherapist, as well as friends and family. But it still would have been really nice to be able to talk to someone who was going through the same thing.”
Recognizing a need in Prince Rupert, the Wilsons are looking to fill the gap by bringing the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Living with Stroke Program to Prince Rupert in March. The sessions, which run for two hours once per week for eight weeks, include topics covering the impact of stroke, physical changes and keeping active, dealing with emotions and relationships, reducing future risk and nutrition.
Having lived with the effects of stroke, Sharlene said she hopes these topics will help others and potentially form the basis of an ongoing network of support.
“We felt alone and I am sure there are a lot of other people who feel it has only happened to them and they are lost. This is going to help enrich our lives as well as those of the participants involved. We’re all going to help each other out. It brings us a little more independence,” she said.
“I think it is an awesome opportunity ... Richard and my plan is that if there is more that people want, we may be able to branch off of this and provide what is needed for our community.”
The program will launch on March 3 at the Prince Rupert Public Library and anyone interested in attending is asked to call 1-888-473-4636.
As for Richard, four years after his stroke he is well on the road to recovery.
“He’s doing great. We kind of went into this blind, but we did what we could to help Richard get back what he felt he lost. The most important thing for him was his communication, he needed to have that back,” she said.
“He’s a musician so he’s playing his guitar more and has a chance to do what he loves doing. He gets to focus more on that and has written songs, which is something that has helped his communication. He’s also sang songs and recorded videos of the songs he’s written. A lot of the songs are about what he has experienced and gone through from the start to now.”