After cancer and strokes, former radio personality slowly recovering

Scott Hartline was once a staple of Southeast Missouri radio. Before July 2008, Hartline hosted the 2 to 7 p.m. weekday shift on Real Rock 99.3 in Cape Girardeau while voicing commercials for Mississippi River Radio's other stations. He had previously worked for Zimmer Radio Group. He was heard everywhere. It all stopped after a series of maladies that started one day when Scott noticed some discomfort in his groin.

"We took him to the urologist," said Scott's wife, Cyndy. "We were given antibiotics and it just got worse."

After a surgical procedure, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Once treatment started, Scott's red hair and beard were gone, and he was severely weakened.

"When he started the chemo he had every intention of getting through it and going back to work; an eight-week protocol and then back to it," Cyndy said. "And the radio station was great. ... They were really amazing and made sure that he was on the payroll until the last possible moment because of FMLA," the Family Medical Leave Act.

But he didn't make it back to work. As a result of the chemotherapy, Scott suffered a stroke July 20, 2008.

"He fell out of bed, disoriented, not knowing what was going on after the first stroke. He was hospitalized for one month at Southeast Missouri Hospital and in the beginning, it was touch-and-go. They didn't know if the clot in his carotid artery would break off and kill him."

Scott was discharged from the hospital Aug. 15, 2008, but the damage had been done. The stroke deadened his right arm, his right leg and his ability to speak. Still, he insisted on completing an amended course of chemotherapy and consequently suffered a second stroke in September 2008.

"The doctors at Barnes-Jewish [in St. Louis] said that as long he takes a blood thinner like aspirin once a day for the rest of his life, he should be fine," Cyndy said. However, seizures are a common side effect if someone already has suffered a stroke. In Scott's case, a series of seizures began in December.

"Some of the seizures required hospitalization, some didn't, but now he can't be left unattended," Cyndy said. "They say he's stable now, but we have no idea what to expect. Scott is in, like, a fog, and he knows it. So, for us, there is no normal."

Their 5-year-old daughter's memories of her father before the stroke are quite vivid. At times she asks, "When will Daddy start talking again?"

Through it all, there are plenty of signs of hope for Scott Hartline. He has regained most use of his right leg in addition to some of the feeling on the right side of his body. He can walk. He makes the bed in the morning, makes toast for his daughter and can work the television remote control. Through a steady regimen of speech therapy, Scott's speaking ability is slowly returning, one word at a time.

"It could have been so much worse," Cyndy said. "But we're very fortunate at how stubborn of a man he is. The community has reached out and embraced our little family. ... We are humbled and so very grateful. We just treasure every day together because our girl still has her dad and I still have my Scotty."