Barry chose BRRH for his inpatient stroke rehabilitation.
Before admitting to Bloomington Regional Rehabilitation Hospital, Barry Sutherlin lived a “pretty normal life.” He lived with his wife, Sharon, and enjoyed mowing, playing with his dogs, and visiting with his family, especially his grandkids. During our interview, Barry recalled his last trip to visit his newest granddaughter in Vermont. He last saw her when she was just 4-6 months old. Then COVID hit, and it had been four years since Barry had seen her. However, before this incident, he recently had time to visit his granddaughter in Vermont, which brought him a lot of joy.
One morning, Barry woke up feeling weak. “I did not know what was going on. I just kept going about my day, and before long, my right leg was giving out.” Barry wound up falling and could not use his right leg to get up. “I knew the signs of a stroke but didn’t think that I was having a stroke.”
However, Barry’s weakness progressively worsened to the point he had another fall. “I couldn’t keep my legs underneath me. I didn’t have a headache or other symptoms, just weakness. It just kept getting worse throughout the day.” Barry’s wife, Sharon, took him to the ER after his second fall that day. “Once at the ER in Paoli, I was evaluated, and they decided to transfer me to IU Health Bloomington, where I saw a neurologist and an MRI.
The MRI confirmed that Barry did have a stroke.
A battle with Guillain-Barre syndrome left Michael in need of intensive rehabilitation
Michael Perry recently retired as the director of operations for a transportation company. Michael enjoyed his newfound free time, spending time with his grandkids, playing basketball, golfing, and going to church.
One Monday morning, Michael experienced a sudden onset of leg soreness that caught him by surprise. “It was severe and wasn’t like any other soreness I had felt. And it wasn’t muscle.” Within a few hours, Michael couldn’t stand, and by mid-afternoon, he couldn’t move his legs. “By 4 pm, I was essentially paralyzed from the waist down. I was in bed and spent all day there.”
The next day, Michael’s dad came over and immediately called 911. Michael was transported to IU Health Bedford before being referred to a specialist at IU Health Bloomington. “The doctor spent time with me and was able to diagnose me very quickly,” Michael recalled. “She knew exactly what was wrong with me and was able to get treatment started pretty quickly.”
Michael had Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder where the body’s immune system attacks the nerves.
