By Steve Mallory

Recap of 2005

Happy New Year! I hope that 2006 is much better than 2005! What a year. I am so glad that it is over. Last year was probably my worst year other than 1994, the year of my stroke. It started fine but suddenly spiraled downhill after April 24, the day that my ITB pump prematurely failed. Let me recap some of the positive achievements of our organization, though.  

• The blog feature created for the message board. This is basically a means for our members to type out their daily thoughts.  
• A custom skin for the board was displayed. It was more of an accurate theme to go along with our website than the blue colors of the message board designer, Invision.

• We added a new Internet address for the Members Area, Internet address http://www.strokesupport.org/. Hopefully, everyone can easily remember this address and will frequently visit this web page.
• We began a calendar style Chat Schedule - Reminder e-mails can be sent at the member’s option.
• We started the Language Disorders Chat series and also had several Guest Speaker Moderated Chat series with featured topics and speakers of Constraint Induced Aphasia Therapy by Dr Jen MD and Stroke and Depression by Dr Laura Cushman PhD.
• We added several new functions to our message board. Information about message board users including state, country flag, age, local time.
• After this point I had the dreaded Pump prematurely fail! Everything seemed to slow down drastically for several months after this point. I was in and out of the Emergency Room several times within one week and then admitted for a week. After release, I was essentially out of the game and could not function for another six weeks.
• The Member Donation barometer was created. This allowed and encouraged all members to donate just $10 in hope that we could make the barometer rise up to meet our goal. This fundraiser still exists and is located at http://www.strokesupport.org/members/donation.htm in case you would like to contribute to our organization.
• Finally, we had a very successful Annual Stroke for stroke golf tournament fundraiser. We far exceeded our original expectations and brought in more than enough revenues to keep our website around for years to come.

Then, in November, my computer crashed! This blew my mind but luckily all organization files were backed up. This still meant purchasing a new computer and then transferring everything over. And then there is the issue of properly setting up the new computer and more weeks of aggravation and frustration.

You might know that my stroke caused quadriplegia and loss of speech. This problem only compounded the issues of 2005. Thank goodness it is behind us!

January 2006

There are a few new highlights to talk about. The first thing in the preliminary planning stages is to establish a Bracelet program. We would have some sort of bracelet made to establish that you are a stroke survivor and possibly a design that links you to our organization. The bracelets would be sold on-line and at a reasonable price.

Does this sound interesting and would you participate? A poll for this question exists in the Community Forum on the message board at http://www.strokeboard.net/index.php?showtopic=4430

One of our members e-mailed me last month and was very concerned that the other members may not be aware of our Members Map. The Members Map is a graphical image of each continent. When a person adds their name to the map they get to place a pin on the location where they live. You can get to the map by going to http://pub16.bravenet.com/guestmap/view.php?usernum=1336723508

If you went to our message board today you noticed that we are back to the Invision blue skin. What really happened is that the board was upgraded. You can explore the board and look for the improvements. Please do not e-mail me about the problems just yet because I already know what some of them are and am trying to get everything straightened out. I estimate that it will be about another month before we are back up to speed. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I received a request from a graduate student who would like to gather information from our organization. She will be submitting a survey questionnaire that hopefully can help her with school. Here is a summary of her information.

Hello! My name is Linda Bonk and I am graduate student in Speech Pathology at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, IL. I am currently working on my thesis that focuses on caregiving for someone who sustained a stroke. I designed a survey that will address how the Speech Pathologist at the hospital handled sharing information with the caregiver, providing resources and assisting in the referral process. There is also a section that will allow the caregiver an opportunity to share experiences, if s/he chooses. I greatly appreciate your time and participation! Thank you