Six years after suffering a stroke, Ben Stillwell has this advice for other victims: Keep Trying

A stroke disrupted Ben Stillwell's life six years ago. A friend saved his life.

Stillwell, now 56, said he was reading aloud in a Sunday morning Bible class.

"The words that were coming out of my mouth were not the words I was reading," said Stillwell, commanding officer of the Cape Girardeau Salvation Army.

A friend in the room raced upstairs to get Stillwell's wife, Beth. By the time they returned, he was worse.

"I attempted to leave," he said. "I shuffled out, I did not walk out."

Stillwell had suffered a stroke.

A stroke, sometimes called a brain attack, happens when a blood vessel carrying oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. The lack of oxygen causes the brain to begin dying. Stroke is the third most common cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of disability.

Stillwell credits fast hospital treatment for his recovery. Within two hours, he was stabilized and had undergone a CT scan, which showed the stroke's effect.

"It had affected my right side and the Broca's area of my brain, which controls speech," he said.

Today, "I'm not at 100 percent, but if you didn't know me, you couldn't tell," Stillwell said. "I can still walk fine, but I'm no longer strong enough to do the crossbow."

Dr. Robert Earl Gardner Jr., a Cape Girardeau neurologist who treats stroke patients, said one of the biggest risk factors is history.

"If you look at risk factors, one of the biggest is having had a stroke in the past. Risk is highest in the first few weeks after an event," he said.

Risk "is always elevated over a person who has not had a stroke or TIA [transient ischemic attack]."

A TIA — brief interruptions of the blood supply to the brain — produces similar symptoms to a stroke (numbness, confusion, trouble seeing in one or both eyes, loss of balance or dizziness) but leaves no lasting damage. More than one-third of those affected by TIAs will later suffer a stroke, Gardner said.

"The risk is highest right after an event, which is why we like people to come to the emergency room early. There are other factors we check at that time — blood pressure, problems with the heart, diabetes," he said. Managing risk factors can reduce the chance of a second incident by nearly 60 percent, he said.

Stillwell said his 18-month recovery was frustrating.

"I wanted to be better now," he said.

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medica Association, more than half the people recovering from the effects of a stroke fall into depression. Stillwell was one of them.

Temporary antidepressants helped, he said, and today he takes only blood pressure and cholesterol medicine.

Stillwell also tries to maintain a sense of humor when vestiges of the stroke crop up.

"One of the funniest things I said from the bottom of my heart was 'God wants us all to live eternally immorally,' but I thought I said immortally. There were a few snickers. I couldn't discern the difference then, but I can now," he said. "I really want to encourage anyone who faces it, just don't give up. Keep trying."

He advises family members to be patient and know where to draw the line between encouragement and pity.

"Make sure that even if they're not able to do this or that, they know, 'You're still my dad, mother, daughter, son, and I still love you. It doesn't matter.'"