Picture taken in year 2005 at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center over  10 years later after stroke.

It was one of those cold days in hell and no snow on the frozen grounds.   All of this don't matter because I was warm inside gazing outside though a window on the eighth floor of Erie County Medical Center's (ECMC) rehabilitation center in my electric wheelchair looking at a outdoor basketball court.  I could be found at that window of dreams before and  between workouts.  Before a therapy workout, I jump start a game of basketball at the court and the game ended with halftime because it's time to go to therapy.  Therapy ended so I go to the window to start the second half of my basketball game after lunch and before another workout.  With a stomach full of hospital food and medicine, the wheelchair bang the hallway walls of the hospital as I drove to the window of dreams to start the second half of the basketball game. 

With the second half got underway,  the score was 36 to 34 and my team is loosing but I had 30 of those.  My team would be winning and I would of had more points but I must dream on.  There was 0 seconds left on the clock with the game tied at  111 and a sold out crowd of 10,000 went wild as a horn sounded to mark the end of game at the same time the referee blew his whistle to call a fowl.  The fowl was called on the guy guarding me on a line drive lay up that would of went in but the my Aponte tackled me at the sound of the buzzer .  I had an astonishing 88 points.  The swet poured out my body as I walked to the fowl line to take a free throw.  Parts of the crowd of 10,000 screamed for me to miss drowning out the cheers for me to score and prevent the game in going in over time.  The referee handed over the ball to me as I shuffled my feet at the fowl line.  Using the back of my hand to wipe away the swet dripping down my forehead be fore I gave the a couple of bounces before the deciding shot.  The crowd grew louder as I raised the ball over my head to shoot my free throw.  Releasing the ball, the crowd gave their last request in attempt for a miss.  Like a lighting bug float on a hot summer night breeze, the ball connected to the basketball hoop.  You could here a pin drop in front of this sold out crowd as the ball rolled around the rim three times.  the ball seemed to pick up speed on the second rolled around to the third trip.  As the third trip around could  end, the unfinished roll around the rim the ball pulled away from the basket  hitting the back board, bouncing off it finally makes the winning point.  Before the celebrations could begin, I had to go to therapy.  : ( 

This kind of imagination kept me out of the nut house for a long drawn five month stay at a rehabilitation for TBI victims.  I was among young victims of stabbings, shootings and car related accidents.  Their were quadriplegics, paraplegics, people who were to weak after an accident.  My last day of rehabilitation I was told I reach my goals in improvements and can't get any better.  This kind of information was hard for me to believe because this doctor with all the medicine in the world couldn't heal the determination I had to beat the odds.  

AUTHORS NOTE- When I left ECMC, I still could not talk, walk, move my arms, turn my head and look you in the eyes.  The first five years of being home with my no quit attitude, today  I feed myself, drink, brush my teeth and work a computer.  All those accomplishments, I work my right arm gaining strength and also I can move my my neck to the right so I t look at square in eyes with glasses  and say "HELLO.".  There only statistics that told me I must quit.  Don't believe in statistics but have faith in yourself. That faith is not a miracle but a unseen believe that gets stronger in time and it feeds off the strength you gain, so don't quit.

My first day and night at ECMC was a shock. It was a very different quality of care.  I received ICU care at Millard Fillmore hospital to a I'm to busy to do things the  right the first time.  I was put in a room with six other patience's that carried on conversations while feeding themselves their hospital dinner.  Eventually, I got a private room with an extra empty bed.  

My therapy ran Monday through Friday for five months straight with weekends off.  I did get passes to go home and celebrated my 29th birthday in March.  One pass allowed me to have Christmas of 94 home.  I slept in that separate bedroom that departed my wife and I in different areas of our home.  This was my first pass out of the hospital since October and I made my entrance using my temporary built wheelchair ramp.  My Christmas at home was a member able one because I received a first class spoil.  I got my very own freshly remodeled bedroom with a 25-inch remote television on a wall mounted swivel stand and it was fully installed with cable.  My neck that was stuck looking left was now able to turn straight but for minutes at a time.  The first day of therapy the neck muscles were being retrained to turn my head.  All the muscles it took to feed myself did not work so I was fed by some one else.

My time here was work here at ECMC.  Everyday just waking up to do because it was work to open up my eye lids,  I could only lay in bed till breakfast to come between 8-9  and hope nurses were not to busy to feed me, I missed a lot of breakfast.   Waking up at 7am and waiting for breakfast (If I got it) my doctor with his student doctors drilled me with yes/no questions.  After breakfast It was bath time, learning things like don't use soap to wash my face.  Why?  Because some mornings were so hectic, the person that bathed forgot to rinse soap off my face.   After I'm all dressed it was the next persons turn for a bath.  The person was racing against time so I lay there in my bed unable to wiggle myself to get comfortable and since I could not cover myself with my blanket I froze my but until a crew of four pranced in the room to put me in my wheelchair.  

AUTHORS NOTE I was put in several manufactures wheelchairs hoping I choose their wheelchair.  My first wheelchair was a regular hospital push chair with a tall back.  When I finished the first session of therapy, I was wheeled back to my room in front of the door.  This wheelchair was the most uncomfortable chair I ever sat in. I was told someone will put me in bed until it was time for therapy.  This never happened at any day so tears poured out of my eyes because but was in so much agonizing pain from not being able to readjust m y butt after sitting on it for so long.  I was fitted in several different electric wheelchairs because right arm became just mobile enough to operate one and operate a switch that tilted seat back to shift my body weight off butt.

After getting situated into the wheelchair, my speech therapist came to my room to  worked on me.