Dunham Family and My Stroke Story!

Yesterday, my wife flew to the Grand Canyon with her mother and a sister. That is a red letter day for the Dunham's. This is the first time since my strokes 3 and a half years ago that I am alone with the responsibility to take care of our son. My wife is a saint. When my strokes happened, she took charge. She handled every minute detail, keeping visitors at bay, juggling a scared 6 year old boy with little help, and dealing with a barrage of people wanting any and all news.  Dunham's in the hospital: January 27, 2012 After my strokes and when I came home from the hospital after 18 days, she had to continue a hectic pace. Reassuring everyone including me that I would be OK even when she wasn't sure. She had to drive me to countless appointments and have a semblance of a "normal" life for our son.   I cannot imagine what her life was like. People keep saying that I was so strong. SHE was the strong one. When people cried about me, SHE was the shoulde

On Saturday, May 16, 2015, I am walking in the Treasure Valley Heart Walk. I am walking because I can. The fact that I can walk at all is a miracle considering I had two strokes in January of 2012. I had a torn carotid artery. The second stroke happened in the hospital, and it was massive. I lost 20% of my brain. I lost all communication, have aphasia, apraxia, and I could not even remember my own name. Yet, I was lucky. Here are some statistics about strokes in the United States: ·                   Stroke kills almost 130,000 Americans each year— that’s 1 out of every 20 deaths. ·                   On average, one American dies from stroke every 4 minutes. ·                   Every year, more than 795,000 people in the United States have a stroke. ·                   About 610,000 of these are first or new strokes. ·                   About 185,00 strokes—nearly one of four—are in people who have had a previous stroke. ·                   About 87% of all st