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<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI knew I had to fall in love with getting better. That\u2019s how the title came about,\u201d Torres said. \u201cI\u2019ve met hundreds of people and the growth in myself has made me feel good. Many times I have felt like superman.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was not always mountaintop moments of superhuman strength, however, and that is the beauty of the book according to Geist-Martin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing we learn from all of his stories is that he made this shift in his mind,\u201d she said. \u201cHe originally just wanted to crawl under the covers and hide because he didn\u2019t like to see himself in the mirror. The book really talks about his life story of resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n
At age 69, Torres had an Ischemic stroke that shut down the right side of his body and affected his speech. However, he decided his disability would not deter his journey in recovery, instead, he exercised for the next 1,000 days and became fully mobile with no physical impediments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis man doesn\u2019t give up. He just doesn\u2019t,\u201d Geist-Martin said.<\/p>\n
Advocacy and helping others are at the center of Torres\u2019 recovery process.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said if I ever got better, I would dedicate my life to help other people get better,\u201d he said. \u201cI would talk to rotary clubs and stroke survivors at the hospitals. It felt good. It felt like I was accomplishing something, that and feeding the ducks.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is the little victories threaded throughout his story that demonstrate his resiliency. From regaining mobility first in his hand, to simply feeding the ducks everyday at 6:45 a.m. in Chollas Lake, the small triumphs are what made him love the journey to recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Bill, progress looked like being able to put a key in a lock or it meant just trying to tap a foot to a favorite piece of music,\u201d Parsloe explained. \u201cThe key is that those tiny advancements add up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my mind, I said \u2018I\u2019ve got to get better\u2019 \u2014 the little engine that could,\u201d Torres said.<\/p>\n
But also part of his story revolves around the stigmas and pressures stroke survivors grapple with in relearning to tie their shoes and becoming independent again. \u201cI felt that I didn\u2019t want to be disabled. That\u2019s for someone else. Not me. I am not going to go through my life disabled,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Parsloe explained that the book discusses the struggle between dedication to recovery and internalized stigmas perpetuated against disabled citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes some of the things Bill told himself, \u2018I don\u2019t want to be seen,\u2019 is internalized ableism,\u201d he said. \u201cThat fear of being seen as disabled is what motivates, but that can be toxic as well. To some extent, yes, be as consistent as possible. But it\u2019s not always possible to improve to the extent that Bill did. Focusing so much on the physical can actually stigmatize people even further. There\u2019s this tension between wanting to keep pushing and going, but also in recognizing we have to accept people for who they are. That acceptance creates a safe environment for someone to embrace whatever gains or not that they experience post stroke.\u201d<\/p>\n
In order to change the stigmas and societal pressures that disabled stroke survivors struggle with, Torres, Geist-Martin and Parsloe all agree that meaningful relationships drastically impact the road to recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver and over what the research is showing is that when you have meaningful connections, you can heal the traumas of your past and you can create healing and resilience,\u201d Geist-Martin said. \u201cWhen people have strokes, they have physical disabilities or mental disabilities. People can say things and do things to stigmatize you. You end up closing up shop and retreating. [However] Bill didn\u2019t do that and his friends didn\u2019t allow him to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parsloe added: \u201cOne of the things we noticed about Bill all through his life is that he forms really close relationships with people that he feeds over time. We saw that with Bill going to feed the ducks. That was one of the major connections he formed after the stroke. He meets this duck named Curly whose beak is all twisted then he feeds him. A big part of the recovery shifting from \u2018why me\u2019 to \u2018what now\u2019 is starting to form those relationships and feel that other people are dependent on you \u2014 that you still have something to give.\u201d<\/p>\n
The advice Torres has to give is a reminder of hope: \u201cHope springs eternal. Hope for the best. You can do it. Just don\u2019t let things stop you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Elaine Alfaro es pasante editorial de San Diego Community Newspaper Group y estudiante de Point Loma Nazarene University.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By ELAINE ALFARO [Editor\u2019s note: May is Stroke Awareness Month. For more information about strokes and recovery, visit the American Stroke Association at www.stroke.org.] In 2010, San Diego State University professor Patricia Geist-Martin approached stroke survivor Bill Torres on his daily stroll to feed the ducks at Lake Murray. Little did they know that this […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":983,"featured_media":232350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11558","_seopress_titles_title":"Book explores stroke recovery, resilience","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11558,11551,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-mission-times-courier","category-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/983"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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