Meet Doug: He Shares the Ultimate Lesson in Kindness

Photo of Doug and his family at a wedding. — Doug, left, with his wife, son and his son’s girlfriend at a wedding. They all participated in the annual Pelham 5k walk/race the next morning.

We received this beautiful appreciation note from Doug, a patient at our Salem, NH hospital. His note beautifully captures the heart of the organization and the “why” for so many. We are grateful to him for sharing his thoughts and hope you enjoy his story:

I had been traveling extensively for work and was completely out of touch during the week. I was struggling to manage my blood pressure and was feeling a lot of stress due to having to leave my wife, who was undergoing treatment for cancer. At the beginning of June I went to my local urgent care with a headache that I thought might be a sinus infection.

I was referred to the ER where I was given an MRI and other tests. I was informed that I had just suffered a major stroke and tests indicated that I had several others in prior months. Early June, I was admitted to the hospital where I spent about a week and a half. I was then discharged to NRH in Salem, NH, with some imbalance and left side vision and neurological deficit. I jumped right to work 3-4 hours a day with my PT coach Jennie and OT coaches Allie and Taylor. The nurses were amazing. They helped my wife and I to learn how to safely live with my new situation and helped us to build the confidence to safely return to my home.

The therapy team worked with us to define my therapy goals. I had three:
1. Return home safely.
2. Attend a concert at Boston Seaport in July.
3. Return to the golf course.

I was discharged in early July and was thrilled to return to my home. Goal #1 complete!

Later in July we checked into a hotel in Seaport. We walked a couple blocks through rain and traffic, and shared a great dinner at Legal Harborside. After dinner we walked next door to the venue, got beer and wine and staked out a good spot on the concourse of the Pavilion (our seats were soaked). As the band settled into their opening number,

I just smiled at my wife of 29 years and shook my head in profound gratitude as I thought about how the expertise, extreme kindness and compassion of a group of people we had never met enabled us to experience something so uplifting just a month after being admitted to the hospital!!

And lastly, I returned to my long time golf league friends late August.

Infinite thank you to my doctors, therapists and nurses. You truly help people and families.