Matt's Story
Therapists play key role in stroke victim’s vast improvements
November 2024 Article
Shared with permission from Steve Raymond, Effingham-Teutopolis News Report
He couldn’t walk.
He couldn’t talk.
And he couldn’t swallow or eat any regular foods.
He was confined to a wheelchair.
He had difficulty communicating.
And was fed through a feeding tube.
All a result of a massive stroke he had on Christmas Day in 2022.
But Matt is not a quitter. He has a never-say-die attitude, refuses to give up, and despite everything, always seems to have a smile flashing across his face.
That determination, plus the skill, dedication and love he received from the therapists at HSHS St. Anthony’s Physical Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, has resulted in a dramatic improvement to his overall quality of life.
Matt still has challenges – and will have the rest of his life.
But his story is not one of defeat. It’s the perfect example of what people are capable of accomplishing, especially when they possess a fighter’s strength and drive; and combine that with family and therapists that provide the support, love and professional expertise needed to help them improve.
That is Matt Lake’s story.
Matt, 45, and his wife, Kimberly, live in Brownstown. They have two children – Macey, 14, a freshman at Brownstown High School; and Dalton, 19, who lives at home and works construction.
Matt loves to work. Prior to the stroke, he was a truck driver for Central Transport for six years. In his spare time, he enjoyed woodworking and helping his family anyway he could.
“He was always on the go,” Kimberly said. “During the week, he would work 10 hours a day. On Saturdays, he liked to go to antique stores. And on Sunday, he was always helping somebody with some project. He didn’t sit around much. He liked to be outside working on projects.
About a week before Christmas in 2022, Matt wasn’t feeling well. He had flu-like symptoms and felt nauseous quite a bit. He went to the doctor.
But about 3 a.m. on Christmas Day, he woke up and went into the bathroom as he was feeling very ill and thought he might vomit.
“Then it went quiet,” Kimberly recalled. “I went in and saw Matt sitting on the floor, up against the wall. His face was drooped. I said, ‘You’ve had a stroke.’ He looked up at me and said, ‘Why do you think that?’ That was the last thing he said.”
Kimberly called 9-1-1 and the ambulance was sent. Matt was taken to the Emergency Room at HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital in Effingham. An initial x-ray didn’t show anything. But a CT scan revealed a blood clot in his cerebellum.
Matt was given TPA – a blood clot-dissolving enzyme -- at St. Anthony and then transported to HSHS St. John’s Hospital in Springfield. When Matt arrived at St. John’s Hospital, a thrombectomy was immediately performed to remove a blood clot and two days later he had a craniotomy, a surgical procedure that involves removing a portion of the skull to relieve pressure on the brain. Matt was kept sedated and on a ventilator. Once stable, the team of doctors attempted to remove the ventilator, but Matt’s airway muscles were too weak to keep his airway open. On January 5 Matt had surgery to have a tracheotomy placed in his neck and a feeding tube was placed in his stomach.
After three weeks in ICU at St. John’s, Matt was transported to OSF Hospital in Peoria. He spent a month and a half there. The final two weeks, he was on the rehabilitation floor and received intense physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy.
He was released and returned home in the early part of March 2023. He began physical, occupational and speech therapy at St. Anthony’s Physical Rehab and Wellness Center, which is located in the Workman Sports Complex, on March 16, 2023.
He was confined to a wheelchair and had severe limitations at the time. But the things the therapists remembered were his willingness to work hard and that never-ending smile and sense of humor.
“He has never allowed his limitations to hold him back,” Kimberly noted. “He never gives up and finds a way to do things. At first, his progress was slow, but we saw improvements every week.”
Over the 18 months Matt came to the center, he worked with most of the therapists on the staff. Three of those included Sarah Geen, physical therapy; Nikki Probst, occupational therapy; and Karen Buescher, speech therapy.
“When he first started, he was in a wheelchair and it took two of us to safely stand him up and transfer him,” Sarah said. “And when he did stand up, he was severely leaning backwards and couldn’t understand where to place his foot when attempting to walk.”
Matt had experienced ataxia following the stroke and had difficulty controlling his movements.
“We had to teach him how to stand, how to shift from side to side, and how to coordinate and control his movement to be able to walk,” Sarah explained. “We used the ceiling harness for a couple months, but then he began to figure out how to do more and more.”
Eventually, Matt moved to the parallel bars. Then dots were placed on the floor, providing him targets for his feet. He began walking short distances and learning how to control his movements and was able to transition to ambulating with a walker.
“He always had a positive attitude,” Sarah said. “He was going to do the task, no matter how difficult it was for him. And he always had a smile on his face.”
Nikki Probst helped Matt regain some of his overall general strength, plus coordination in his hands – learning how to pick up small items. He had to basically re-learn all the basic activities of daily living. Things like getting dressed and brushing his teeth.
Nikki also helped him with visual perception that includes scanning, visual tracking and depth perception. There were exercises that helped Matt’s brain realize it was seeing the same thing his eyes were.
“Even when feeling a little down some days, he always had that can-do spirit,” Nikki said. “Even on the harder days, he was willing to work.”
Karen Buescher helped Matt with things like swallowing and speech.
“Swallowing was our biggest challenge,” Karen admitted. “At first, he had a feeding tube and was on a modified diet. He had to learn how to swallow again. In order to achieve this skill, we used traditional swallowing exercises as well as E-Stim which is electrical stimulation on the neck to activate the muscles used for swallowing.” Matt’s feeding tube was removed on April 25, 2023.
When it came to speech, Karen helped Matt with both volume and the ability to be understood.
“When he first came here, his volume was very weak,” she noted. “His vocal cords weren’t coming together like they should. He was also very hard to understand. He had to repeat himself a lot.
“But no matter what we worked on, Matt made awesome progress,” Karen said. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen him in a bad mood. Even on the harder days, he still laughed.”
All three therapists said they looked forward to his “Dad” joke every day he attended.
“I think Matt has seen every therapist they have here,” Kimberly said. “Everyone helped him so much. He knew most days he would be exhausted. But they all showed him ways he can adapt and have a better quality of life.
“I’m so proud of him,” Kimberly added. “He doesn’t let his limitations get him down.”
“Anybody that’s had an experience like what I did, should come here,” Matt continued. “They helped me a lot. These are great people. They’re like family.”
Yes, he still uses a walker.
And, yes, he still slurs some words and can be a little hard to understand. He will always have some challenges with balance and hearing and the ataxia will continue to cause some uncontrollable movements.
But he’s now eating just about anything he wants to. Plus, he can dress himself, feed himself and even help his wife with some household chores – like loading and unloading the dishwasher and folding the laundry.
And that smile? It just might be a little brighter and wider than ever.
“I’ve been a physical therapist for 25 years,” Sarah said. “There are some people you will always remember. I guarantee you. We will never forget Matt.”