Back in the day, Mark was quite the golf player, with a smirk, the 80-year-old said he could play with the best.

Although Mark can still play golf in his head, he’s not able to play the game anymore, which breaks his heart.

Two years ago, after suffering a stroke that left his right arm and leg partially paralyzed, Mark is content to achieve smaller victories, such as moving one of his fingers.

After the stroke, a rehabilitation person and Angel Helpers came in, at first it was thought that Mark was going to improve very little due to his age and the severity of the stoke, BUT that was then and boy has he made a lot of progress!

After six weeks of rehabilitation and two years of Angel Helpers caregivers helping/pushing the workouts, he is now walking with a walker (YES, WALKING).  Besides working on his arm and leg, they have also been working to keep his brain active with number and word puzzles along with other activities.  Mark’s wife says that she thinks much of that progress can be attributed to combining traditional rehabilitation with Home Health Aide’s from Angel Helpers.

Although the rehabilitation person was invaluable, she gives a lot of credit  to Angel Helpers for not just having Mark do the workouts, but talking to him and making him want to get better even on the bad days. Boy, are their bad days, but Mark looks positively at all the progress he’s made over the past two years. His right arm and leg are still not as strong as his left, but he’s getting there.

The ultimate goal is for Mark to be able to walk across the house with a walker. Some days Mark can walk a few feet on his own (with a caregiver by his side for safety), but there are some days he can hardly walk at all with his walker. He must celebrate the small victories and see all the progress he has made over time.

What we learn as a baby is based on repetition – from standing, walking or playing the piano.  It’s a lot like that when a brain is injured, we need to retrain it through repetitive activities or motions.

Although the progress is slow and can be frustrating at times, Mark’s wife said her husband has been a good sport and so happy that he didn’t have to go to a nursing home.  She knows she couldn’t help Mark without Angel Helper’s assistance – especially with the shower and personal care tasks.

Mark said, chuckling, “My hope is to shoot golf again”.