STROKE VICTIM INSPIRED OTHERS TO WALK AGAIN
DAVID FESTENSTEIN had a devastating stroke in 2008 that left him paralysed on his right side and unable to walk.
Around a quarter of patients who have a stroke (about 110,000 each year in England alone) leave hospital with moderate to severe disability and it seemed as if David was going to be one of them.
Instead, his consultant hailed David’s recovery as one of the most astonishing he had witnessed and wanted to learn more.
David, 65, used his skills as a communication specialist, coach and professional speaker based in Hertfordshire to motivate himself through a gruelling rehabilitation.
‘How you approach the recovery process is critical,’ he explains. ‘Choose positive words with specific outcomes in mind. That way your feelings will be influenced, hence your energy and strength.’
He adds: ‘For example, you might tell yourself: “I will walk again, I can see myself walking soon, I am so strong that nothing will stop me getting back to normal,” and run mental films that show yourself taking your first steps, lifting something.’
David’s consultant wanted to find out how best to support patients in the two weeks after a stroke. This is when many people give up and forego vital rehab exercises.
David had kept a detailed diary of his experiences, including the positive words and phrases he’d developed to bolster his self-motivation. He also realised he had used distinct steps to aid his recovery — ones he could define and teach. These included learning to be grateful for the abilities a patient retains, and developing a vision of what they want to achieve next.
In 2009, David was invited to talk to his medical team and they realised that much of his insight could apply to patients with other conditions, such as cardiac illness and or those recovering from amputation.
‘I was very excited,’ David says. ‘I began to call it my “stroke of luck”. There is so much to share.’ He developed a structured teaching approach and NHS stroke networks paid him to work with them and speak at events.
Then the NHS funding evaporated. ‘I ran into the “can you speak for nothing” thing. It was not sustainable,’ says David. ‘I spent inordinate amounts of time thinking that if I could get to the top people in the NHS, my methods would be embraced.’ But he had no luck. The final straw came at a huge NHS innovation event. Instead of being on a theatre stage in front of thousands with the doctors, he was part of a ‘pop-up university’ at the back of the hall.
‘The professionals had beautiful theatres and seamless technological support,’ he says. ‘We patients were in a cramped box with flimsy cardboard surrounds, given a faulty microphone and drowned out by the main meeting.’
David has returned to his job in business development. He knows that all he has learned could really help other patients. Sadly, he is unsure he has the energy to try to help them again and fail. But perhaps someone reading this will give him a call.