On January 8, 1999, life as I knew it, ended.  In January, 1998,  I had retired from IBM after a successful career of 34 years and had started a PC consulting practice that had just begun to gain some traction. At about 10:00 AM,  I was working at my primary account about when I began to feel a bit odd. My left arm was twitching for no apparent reason.  I went home to lie down for a while. Fortunately, my wife had not yet gone to work. After a few minutes, my left leg was twitching wildly and for reasons I still cannot fathom, I told my wife I thought I was having a stroke.  911 worked very well and in less than 30 minutes, I was in the Intensive Care Unit at Emerson Hospital in Concord, MA.  Fortunately, Dr. Robert Cantu, the resident neurosurgeon, was on call and he saved my life by evacuating the bleed in my cranium. I had suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage.  Between ICU, the hospital, and rehabilitation at Health South Rehabilitation Hospital in Woburn, MA, I didn’t see home again for nearly three months. In those months, I realized how much my life had been changed.  I would probably never regain use of my left arm and hand and would probably always walk with a cane and other assistance, such as an AFO. The therapists at Health South taught me to walk again, to breathe correctly, and to live with my disabilities.  It is now nearly ten years later and I have learned a lot about stroke survival and coping.  This web site is designed to help others in my situation and their families navigate this very difficult voyage.  If you have survived to this point, — you are looking at my web site — then you have already beaten the odds and there is plenty of life in front of you.  You don’t have to do it alone.  There is a lot of help out there, financial and otherwise. I had no plans to stop work at the time of my stroke, but that decision was forced on me.  I have found there are lots of things to do that are both enjoyable and productive...

Bill Hurd,10 years post stroke

“Life is good!”