New Book Helps Stroke Survivors and Families

Someone in the United States has a stroke every 40 seconds on average and stroke is the third leading cause of death according to the American Heart Association. Ron Gardner, survivor of a severe stroke, understands what it feels like to have his life changed forever. He has made it his personal mission to better the lives of the other more than five million survivors and their loved ones with his new book, Take Brave Steps for Stroke Survivors and Families – A Message of Motivation and Hope.

The book teaches how motivation meets inspiration following a life altering event. Unlike other books, Gardner leads readers from “bitter to better.” He shares his heart-felt personal tragedies and triumphs over stroke and he guides survivors through the Take Brave Steps™ process, including Tips, Self-Reflections, and Exercises.

Ron explains how the book came to be.  “On the morning of November 5, 1997, I woke up and my life had changed forever. I had suffered a severe stroke in my sleep and when I woke up, I was paralyzed on my right side and barely able to speak.”

The issue was Ron did not immediately seek medical attention, and the focus of the book is to help people better understand what to do, and how to deal with all the challenges that come with a stroke.

“I did something terribly stupid. I was in denial and I said to myself, “This isn’t happening to me. I’ll walk this off. My foot is asleep.” Well that was the wrong thing to do. After more than six hours, I called my wife at work and alerted her that something had gone wrong and we finally went to the emergency room.  Unfortunately, I had suffered six more hours of brain damage. I hope others will learn to call 9-1-1 immediately if they have any similar symptoms.

“It took me approximately one year to learn to walk and talk again.  My wife and I found there was very little information related to the mental, emotional and social and family challenges we faced available. I decided to close that information gap and help millions of others by writing the book.”

“What makes this book special is that I share very personal accounts of the suffering and how I prevailed over the illness and that is where the reader’s journey to empowerment and wellness begins. I invite them to get actively involved with their own recovery by participating in self-reflections, tips and other helpful Brave Step tools.”