Even after experiencing two strokes, Jeffrey Buysee never wavered in his goal of seeing the world.
Our dedicated caregivers made sure that happened.
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. 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. 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 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. He lost 40 more pounds. But 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.
Paramedics rushed Jeff to MetroHealth Medical Center, less than 10 minutes away.
Jeff suffered a second stroke; the CT scan showed large areas of dead brain tissue. He was stabilized and transferred to the ICU.
Jeff recognized Cary, but he couldn’t speak or move his right leg and right arm.
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. She 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.
Before Jeff 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.
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 study where 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. “He put so much effort into our sessions that he was able to master the added systems that supported his movement practice.”
More than a year has passed since Jeff participated in the study. 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 and started using a Bioness device on his leg. The device’s electrical stimulation allows him to walk with a smoother gait.
More than a year has passed since Jeff participated in the study. 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 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. Whitehair says she has no doubt that he will 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 Cary 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!”
