Christopher Herron

One Saturday morning, Christopher Herron decided to do one of his favorite activities: thrifting. He explained that while he was getting ready to leave, he just didn’t feel good. He still decided to go thrifting and planned to go to the zoo with his family later that day.

When they arrived at the zoo, his wife and son realized something wasn’t right. Christopher’s mouth started drooping, his speech was off, and he was drifting to the right when he walked. They took him straight to the hospital for evaluation. There they told him he experienced two small strokes. The first day in the hospital he had little movement on his right side. By the second day, he suffered another stroke that led to a total loss of movement in his right arm and leg.

At discharge, Christopher decided between two options for continued recovery. He chose to go to Southern Indiana Rehabilitation Hospital. He always heard good things about SIRH and his dad had a great experience there as a patient. He started with inpatient rehabilitation and said, “I enjoyed my stay. All the nurses were nice and I felt like they all had a positive attitude. My therapists, Ally, Dan, and Haley, were always encouraging.”

Once Christopher was discharged from the inpatient hospital, he chose to extend his care through the outpatient program at SIRH. As a result, he became stronger and saw great progress. He went from walking only short distances with breaks to walking over 600 feet with a cane. He now only uses the cane for balance in outpatient therapy.

Christopher said, “Jennifer F., Jennifer R., and several other physical therapists influenced my recovery. They helped me meet my first goal of walking again.” Now he is close to reaching his second goal of using his right arm and hand. So far, he has gained use of his arm but is still working on the functionality of his hand. Along with his therapists, his family and church family provided great support throughout his recovery. They prayed for him and stayed in constant communication through Facebook and texting.

As Christopher continues to progress, he looks forward to going back to work. He learned how to use the computer with his left hand. This adjustment allowed him to catch up so he can go back to work full-time. He is also excited to continue working on his mobility without assistance. As his endurance and flexibility improve, so does his independence.

Christopher can’t wait to get back to his old hobbies like walking around yard sales and thrifting. At the moment, his main goal is to work on building strength back in his arm so he can play with his kids again. He feels that the progress he made is giving him more freedom to do the things he loves.