Bobbie Hall

BIOGRAPHY

My name is Bobbie Hall. I am a 62 year old stroke survivor. I had a right CVA on 3/3/98 at age 57,which affected my left side. Before this time I was communications and membership services director for the Atlanta Alliance on Developmental Disabilities (AADD) in Atlanta, Georgia where I had worked for 23 years. Now I am walking without a cane but still have limited use of my left arm/hand. Although I have regained movement and some use, my fine motor skills are far from back to normal, but I'm working on it.

I feel what helped me most after my stroke was getting out and doing things and going places I enjoyed, thanks to my husband of 5 years, at the time of my stroke. I resigned my position after several months had passed and I still had no arm/hand movement, knowing they would need to replace me. They gave me a nice "retirement" party, which I attended in a wheelchair. Since then and after a lot of therapy I progressed to a quad cane, then a straight cane and a couple of years ago I put the straight cane down completely and tried it sans cane when going out to dinner and places I felt comfortable about. I found all I needed was my husband's arm or hand to feel safe and eventually felt confident on my own.

Every stroke survivor and every recovery is different and we have to do things, as we feel ok about them. I'm still working on feeling comfortable climbing stairs normally rather than one step at a time. I'd love to be able to run and swim again...we'll see. Never give up!

The Stroke Network, Inc.

P.O. Box 492 Abingdon, Maryland 21009