**This is part 4 of 4 of Jeffery Buysse’s story.**

More than a year has passed since Jeff Buysse participated in the research study designed to find ways to improve hand function. Since then, he’s worked out regularly with two personal trainers at a gym near his home in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood. He’s been riding his bicycle again and started using a Bioness device on his leg. The device’s electrical stimulation allows him to walk with a smoother gait.

Jeff hasn’t yet reached his goal of being able to drive again, but Dr. Victoria Whitehair, a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physician who sees Jeff for regular follow-up appointments, says she has no doubt that he will do it eventually.

“Over time, I’ve gotten to see just how capable he is of exceeding expectations,” says Dr. Whitehair, now Director of Brain Injury Rehabilitation at the MetroHealth Rehabilitation Institute. The institute was recently named #1 in Ohio and #24 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

Jeff and his husband Cary Schneider took a 10-day cruise to Central America in January 2022, including stops in Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, and Cartagena, Colombia. In April, they attended a friend’s wedding in Chicago. Now that he’s back in travel mode, Jeff has started a new list of destinations: the Philippines, Indonesia and Africa are on there.

In July, neighbors and friends gathered to celebrate Jeff’s 56th birthday at a party hosted by Cary at their home. Says Cary, “A great time was had by all!”

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**This is part 3 of 4 of Jeffery Buysse’s story.**

Before Jeff Buysse left MetroHealth, researchers monitored his condition to see if he might benefit from a study designed to find ways to improve hand function. Jeff agreed to the study, which explored the use of contralaterally controlled functional electrical stimulation (CCFES).

Co-invented by Jayme Knutson, PhD, a neurorehabilitation research scientist at MetroHealth, the patented neuromuscular electrical stimulation therapy is for people with paralysis on one side of the body caused by a stroke. While wearing a special glove on the unaffected hand, the study participant controls a stimulator that activates muscles in the affected hand.

Dr. Knutson joined MetroHealth in 2011 as a researcher. Since 2013 he has served as Director of Research in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

“PM&R at MetroHealth believed in research as a crucial way of innovating new treatments for the patients they’re serving.”

In late 2019, Jeff enrolled in the 12-week study, which compares the effectiveness of CCFES with another method of electrical stimulation and no stimulation. He was in the treatment group that didn’t receive stimulation. Instead, he worked on task-oriented exercises for 90 minutes twice a week.

In January 2021 Jeff enrolled in a second 12-week CCFES study led by Dr. Knutson. It was held at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where Dr. Knutson is a research biomedical engineer. In that study, all participants received the CCFES therapy.

At home, while controlling the stimulator to activate muscles in his right hand, Jeff played custom-made hand therapy video games for 10 hours a week. The video games were developed by Dr. Knutson’s colleague at MetroHealth, Michael Fu, PhD.

“Jeff was a star. He worked incredibly hard,” says research occupational therapist Terri Hisel, who worked with Jeff. “He put so much effort into our sessions that he was able to master the added systems that supported his movement practice.”

*Follow tomorrow for more of Jeffery's story**

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**This is part 2 of 4 of Jeffery Buysse’s story.**

Jeff Buysse suffered a second stroke; the CT scan showed large areas of dead brain tissue. tPA, the intravenous drug used to dissolve clots, couldn’t help him this time. Instead, he was stabilized and transferred to the ICU.

Jeff recognized Cary Schneider, his husband. But he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t move his right leg and right arm. Doctors would know more about the extent of the damage in a few days.

After a stent was placed in his carotid artery to improve blood flow, Jeff spent a few more days in the ICU, then was transferred to the MetroHealth Rehabilitation Institute at the Old Brooklyn Campus.

Jeff received five weeks of acute inpatient rehabilitation – occupational, physical and speech therapy.

Jeff and Cary met Victoria Whitehair, MD, a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physician who had completed her residency and a Brain Injury Medicine Fellowship at MetroHealth. She joined the staff in 2018.

“She was really special,” Jeff says. “She came in every day to check to see how I was doing.”

Dr. Whitehair had some frank conversations with Jeff and Cary.

“I really tried to limit the conversations about my expectations and their expectations,” she says. “We were talking instead about resetting our new starting point.”

Dr. Whitehair wanted to first focus on Jeff restoring some arm and leg movement and speech. Then she and Jeff added more exercise and activity goals.

“He was helping to make his care plan,” Dr. Whitehair says. “I’m here to help guide him through that, but it’s such an important part of patients finding their place after an injury.”

Jeff’s speech improved dramatically. Still, it was nowhere near his polished presentations at work.

His mobility progressed from needing a wheelchair to being able to walk up and down the stairs.

After 45 days at MetroHealth, Jeff went home.

“It was really clear to me very early on that this was somebody who was going to figure out how to make things work, how to overcome,” says Dr. Whitehair.

**Follow along for more of Jeffery's story**

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**This is part 1 of 4 of Jeffery Buysse’s story.**

Since Jeffery Buysse and Cary Schneider met in 1991, they have traveled the world together. They even honeymooned in Antarctica in 2016.

But in 2018, Jeff had a medical setback: an irregular heartbeat diagnosed as mitral valve prolapse. He underwent minimally invasive surgery to repair the valve. On doctors’ orders, Jeff improved his diet and exercised more regularly, losing 20 lbs. He was healthy enough that he and Cary did some domestic travel to warm-weather destinations like Palm Springs, Calif., and Savannah, Ga.

In January 2019 Jeff left a meeting at the Akron headquarters of Gojo Industries, where he was vice president of ecommerce, to grab lunch in the cafeteria. But something was off; He needed help getting his credit card from his wallet and he needed someone to point out where the exit was.

Back in the meeting room, Jeff took a call. “All of a sudden, I couldn’t answer a question,” he says. “Soon, my arm felt numb, and my leg felt numb, and I fell out of the chair.”

Paramedics rushed him to the hospital.

Cary, who had been working out at a gym near the couple’s home in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood, hopped in his car after seeing more than 30 missed calls and listening to an ominous voicemail from one of Jeff’s coworkers. He arrived at the hospital in Akron to find Jeff sitting up and talking. Because physicians knew the exact moment of the stroke onset, they gave him the tpA drug. After two nights in the hospital, he went home. He was back at work two weeks later.

Because he was now at higher risk for having a second stroke, Jeff increased his exercise and tweaked his diet again: fewer carbs and more proteins and vegetables. He lost 40 more pounds. He felt good.

Two months later, in the middle of the night, Cary woke up to Jeff’s erratic breathing. “His eyes were wide open, panicked. He couldn’t articulate his words,” Cary says. “I tried to get him to sit up on bed. He fell over on the floor.”

Paramedics arrived and rushed Jeff to MetroHealth Medical Center, less than 10 minutes away.

**Follow along for more of Jeffery's story**

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*This is part 4 of 4 of Meaghan Musarra’s story.**

For two years, the Musarra family has supported @ProjectNICU, a Cleveland nonprofit that supports families with children in the NICU and the medical professionals who care for them. Meaghan is an ambassador for Project NICU, which supplies care packages for NICU families. In February 2021, the organization established the Project NICU Family Assistance Fund at MetroHealth to help families experiencing financial hardships while in the NICU.

To mark Maggie’s third birthday this year, the family raised $2,000 to purchase car seats for NICU families in need. A 2021 online fundraiser, in partnership with Usborne Books to purchase books for MetroHealth’s NICU library, raised more than $2,600. Books will be available in each of the private NICU rooms of the new Glick Center.

Diagnosed with hypotonia (low muscle tone), Maggie has received physical and occupational therapy since she was 9 months old. Her premature birth and hypotonia caused delays in activities like sitting up, standing and walking. Maggie took her first steps at 18 months.

Maggie wears ankle braces for added stability and muscle building, but they don’t slow her down. In February, she took her first independent jump with both feet off the ground.

“Magnolia has always had to work harder since the day she was born,” says Meaghan, describing her as ambitious and a firecracker. “She was born a fighter and is still a determined little girl. She’s always happy. Always smiling.”

Maggie stays active with swimming lessons, dance, gymnastics, and trips to the zoo and beach.

This Fall will bring a lot of exciting changes to the Musarra family. Maggie is now 3 and will be starting preschool, Addie will be in Pre-Kindergarten and the family will welcome a new baby, due October 27.

They are back at MetroHealth, in large part because of the care they have received from maternal-fetal medicine specialist Dr. Bradley Stetzer, Labor and Delivery nurse Dana Marcus and the entire NICU team.

“They all mean so much to our family. MetroHealth is a big part of our lives and always will be” Meaghan says.

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*This is part 3 of 4 of Meaghan Musarra’s story.**

MetroHealth’s NICU team spent the first few days stabilizing Maggie’s sugar and blood levels, treating her jaundice and monitoring her breathing. On Day 3 Meaghan and Brandon held their daughter, who was being fed intravenously and hooked up to monitors.

The nurses supported Meaghan’s desire to breastfeed, helping pump at bedside.

Kristen Uhler was one of the NICU nurses who tended to Maggie.

“No matter what background you come from our nurses and doctors treat every patient exactly the same,” says Kristen, a NICU nurse for a decade before becoming a nurse practitioner. “There is zero discrimination. We treat every parent with respect they deserve.”

While Dr. Stetzer monitored Meaghan’s health, Biju Thomas, MD – who trained at MetroHealth and joined the staff in 2008 – focused on Maggie. As a pediatrician who specializes in caring for newborns with medical issues, the neonatologist was familiar with Maggie’s many issues. She needed help with feeding, a result of gestational age and medication given to Meaghan to treat preeclampsia.

The NICU environment is an obviously stressful one for parents, Dr. Thomas says. “They’re confronted with many challenges, including physical separation and the inability to protect their infant from sometimes painful but necessary procedures.”

On Day 7, Maggie’s IVs and tubes were removed. She could finally wear the preemie-sized onesies that were still too big on her. On Day 14, Maggie went home. At just over 5 lbs., she was smaller than one of her sister’s dolls.

The bedside nurses, pharmacists, therapists, Environmental Services team, front desk staff, discharge team – they all provide crucial family-centered care, Dr. Thomas says. “We’re there to support the families.”

Because of the early assistance from the NICU nurses, Meaghan fed bottled breast milk to Maggie for five months until she transitioned to nursing.

**Follow us tomorrow for more of Meaghan's journey.**

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