By GARY DEMUTH

Salina Journal

Baritone Francis Roesner was singing psalms during Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral when his brain started to bleed.

Roesner had been a cantor at Sacred Heart for years, and this day had begun like a hundred others. But on this particular Saturday night, Feb. 10, a blood vessel suddenly burst on the left side his brain, causing Roesner to have a stroke.

Almost instantaneously, his right side became paralyzed. He abruptly stopped singing and grabbed the nearby podium to try to maintain his balance.

"It almost fell on top of me," said Roesner, 74.

If it hadn't been for the quick action of Sacred Heart Cathedral priest Allen Scheer, who called paramedics, and the prayers of the congregation, Roesner said he most likely wouldn't have survived.

As Roesner was being carried out of the Cathedral, he wondered if he would ever sing again.

A year earlier, on Feb. 1, 2006, Dick Schneiders, an accountant at the Salina engineering firm Wilson and Co., and an accomplished guitarist, was recovering from triple bypass surgery at Salina Regional Health Center. Three days after the surgery, a blood clot traveled to the left side of Schneiders' brain, causing him to have a stroke.

As with Roesner, the stroke affected the right side of Schneiders' body.

"I couldn't do anything," Schneiders said. "I couldn't walk, my speech was slurred, I couldn't even remember my wife's name."

As he lay in his hospital bed, Schneiders wondered if he would ever play the guitar again.

Different Strokes

Last Wednesday, Schneiders tuned up his guitar and Roesner warmed up his voice as both prepared to take the stage. Casual friends for years, the men were about to play their first concert together.

The name of their musical duo? Different Strokes.

"It was tongue-in-cheek, but it also was a perfect name because we had two different kinds of strokes," said Schneiders, 63.

Still somewhat limited physically, both men wondered if they had the confidence, and ability, to perform in front of an audience again.

Schneiders, who once accompanied his singer wife, Twila, at coffeehouses and small concert venues, didn't pick up a guitar for a year and a half after his stroke. While he could hold the guitar neck firmly with his left hand, he couldn't feel the strings he strummed with his right hand.

And while the operatically trained Roesner's voice had recovered most of its power, he didn't know if he would remember his lyrics or had the motor skills to play the omnichord, the electronic chord instrument he used to accompany himself.

Yet as they sat down to perform, Roesner and Schneiders knew the audience response would be positive. After all, they were about to play in front of people just like themselves -- stroke victims.

Still enjoying life

The concert was on the fourth floor rehabilitation center of Salina Regional Health Center, and the audience was made up mostly of men and women recovering from strokes, their caregivers and family members, as well as the nurses and therapists aiding in their recoveries.

Introducing the pair was Linda Huggans, a physical therapist assistant and recreation therapist at the hospital whom Roesner and Schneiders credited with helping them recover.

"It's a great thing Francis and Dick came here to share their music with us," Huggans told the audience, many who sat crowded together in wheelchairs or motorized scooters. "They're showing us that they're still enjoying life and can accomplish things. If you keep plugging away, good things will happen."

Many attendees belonged to a stroke support recovery group that Huggans oversees in partnership with Janice Pankratz, recreation therapist for Salina Parks and Recreation.

"Francis and Dick are here to show them what you can do when you overcome disabilities," Pankratz said.

Before playing their first song, Roesner told the audience that it was a great honor to perform for them.

"We wanted to come here to show you that life doesn't end with a stroke," he said. "It may change your life, but it doesn't end it."

Roesner and Schneiders also wanted to pay tribute to the therapists at the rehabilitation center, who "came to our homes and helped with what needed to be done, whether it was putting in handrails, steps or teaching us how to drive again," Roesner said.

Roesner and Schneiders played a 40-minute set consisting of familiar ballads such as "Greensleeves," "Edelweiss" and "Try to Remember." Audience members dabbed their eyes with tissues, while Dick's wife, Twila, and Roesner's wife, Charlene, looked on with pride.

It wasn't an entirely mistake-free performance. After the duo played an instrumental introduction to "Greensleeves," Roesner stopped playing and waited patiently for Schneiders to finish playing the guitar.

"Francis," Schneiders said, "Aren't you going to sing the lyrics?"

Roesner laughed sheepishly. "It's the stroke," he said, shrugging.

They're an inspiration

For Salinan Don Schmitt, who had a stroke in 1999, Roesner and Schneiders were inspirational no matter how they did onstage.

"I don't know how to sing, and I don't do the entertainment thing," said Schmitt, 64. "But they show you can do whatever you love to do again."

Watching Roesner and Schneiders perform put stroke victim Jimmie Richardson, Salina, in a good mood.

"I get depressed sometimes, and seeing them helps me feel better," said Richardson, 63, a former construction foreman who had a stroke in February. "I'm hoping to work with my hands again, to build things again."

Living with limitations

Roesner and Schneiders may be an inspiration to others, but they realize they still have years of recovery left and might never be totally functional again.

Schneiders, who takes long walks each day, has balance problems and most of his right side is still numb. He had to retire from his accounting job because he couldn't keep numbers straight in his head. And while he's become proficient at the guitar again, he knows he won't ever be able to play as well as he did before his stroke.

"I'm still really slow on the guitar, but I'm enjoying it as much as I did before," he said. "Playing in public again makes me nervous, but then I was nervous before I had the stroke."

Roesner, too, has balance problems and numbness on his right side, but he is beginning to get some feeling back -- sometimes at a painful price.

"It's a million little prickles along my side, like after your foot goes to sleep and the feeling starts to come back -- that's what I feel like all the time now," he said. "It's a good sign, they tell me, because it means the brain is starting to respond again. A lot of people tell me I look good now, but I wish I felt as good as I look."

'They give me courage'

Roesner and Schneiders ended their concert with a rendition of the inspiring prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, set to a soft folk melody.

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace," Roesner sang. "Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy."

Salinan Louise Peterson, 85, is recovering from three strokes she had from 2000 to 2004. After the concert, she wiped tears from her eyes.

"They're marvelous," she said. "They give me courage."

nReporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gdemuth@salina.com.

Join the Discussion:

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ARHeitmann says....
Salina is fortunate not only to have excellent care for stroke victims, but also exceptinal musicians such as Francis and Dick. Both have talents that could be found and lauded in major venues, but they chose family and community over fame and continue to share their lives and musical abilities with Salina. Bravo Franics and Dick!
7/5/2008

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R. Mikulecky says....
For more understanding on the effects of strokes, a great read is: My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey, by Ph D Jill Taylor, Jill Bolte
6/30/2008

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jpberka - St. Paul, MN says....
Thank God for Salina Regional Health Center. Back in 1991, at what was then Asbury Hospital, my good friend, a son of one Salina's City Council members, was admitted with a brain aneurysm much like what happened here. After emergency surgery, he was saved and he lives a healthy life today. Without that hospital, many people would have died far too young.
6/30/2008

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