All-in on getting better
Two-time stroke survivor Mike Tidy is grateful to St. Joseph’s rehabilitation program for helping him get strong again and find new purpose in life
Mike Tidy was at work when his world started to shift. It was August of 2022, and this automation company executive suddenly started garbling his words and feeling dizzy during a virtual meeting. His coworkers noticed and quickly got him medical attention.
It turns out he’d just experienced a stroke, completely out of the blue. He recovered quickly, but in early 2023 while going on a skiing holiday with his family, he had another. This second stroke caused a flood of after-effects that changed his life forever: he lost feeling in one side of his body, he had trouble walking, he had challenges with cognition and memory and he struggled to speak clearly.
The next level of recovery
He entered St. Joseph’s eight-week outpatient stroke rehabilitation program, determined to hit his recovery goals. “I was all-in on getting better,” he shares about that time in his life.
He worked closely with a speech language pathologist, occupational therapist and a physiotherapy team all located at St. Joseph’s Parkwood Institute to improve his physical function and address his challenges.
“The care teams are professional and well-coordinated,” Tidy says. “I felt that they were there not only to help me, but to push me to the next level and move my health outcomes along.”
In time, he made incredible strides in his physical recovery. The innovative equipment in Parkwood’s fitness centre – where many pieces have been funded entirely through donor support – helped him regain balance and move independently again.
Getting stronger and giving back
When the program was complete, he was fortunate enough to be able to continue working privately with a physiotherapist. He is now committed to going to the gym to increase his quality of life and decrease the chances of another stroke.
He has become stronger and fitter over the months since his last stroke. “Maintaining physical activity has also been very beneficial for my mental health,” Tidy shares. “For every penny I put into it, I feel like I get a dime out for my mental and physical health.”
But changing his plans for the future proved to be a harder adjustment. Tidy hoped to keep working into his mid-60s. Accepting the limitations of his health meant retiring earlier than he ever expected – a decision he made shortly after his first stroke.
“I know there are capabilities that won't come back for me,” he shares. “I'm a pretty independent person, and I always have been, but I definitely am not the person that I was before the strokes.”
These days he sometimes feels dizzy and out of breath and still struggles with aphasia (an impairment that affects how someone communicates), so it takes a lot more thinking to land on the right word when speaking. He was also advised by his neurologist to keep his stress levels low for his overall health.
He discovered a newfound interest in helping others in the stroke community: advocacy for stroke survivors and volunteering in the community. He leads meetings for others who’ve had a stroke through the March of Dimes organization and recently signed on as a St. Joseph’s Care Partner.
Today, Tidy is grateful for the support of his family – including his wife and two adult children – and the care he received at St. Joseph’s for getting him to a better place.
“The strokes took me down a bunch of pegs, but I’m doing quite well despite it,” he says. “I am extremely lucky to only have the residual deficiencies that I have as a stroke survivor, and I feel lucky to have this care available to me here in London.”
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Donors help ensure patients receive the best possible care by funding new equipment and technology that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. Your donation today will support rehabilitation services.