Let's Talk Stroke With Stroke Survivor Rob Plaskas

My name is Rob Plaskas and I am 42 years old. I love socializing, sports and wine tasting. When I was 17 years old, I had brain surgery at a renowned medical center where they removed a benign tumor. During my brain surgery I had a stroke caused by a rupture in a artery branch. My neurosurgery team used extraordinary measures to keep me breathing by getting blood reserves back into my body. My neurosurgeon got the clamps on my injured vessel to save my life. I was put into an induced coma. When I came out of the coma, I had right-sided paralysis and global aphasia.
At my rehabilitation hospital I re-learn how to speak, write, move my right leg and arm, access my short-term memory and adjust emotionally. I worked hard and was able to walk with a limp, lift my right arm up, talk in small sentences and improved my short-term memory damage when I was released from there care.
Before my stroke I was a popular student in high school. I was respectful, funny and loved to socialize. I never got into fights or was jealous with any of my girlfriends. I was a good student and participated in sports. I came back to school the next fall. High school was very hard, but I graduated and enrolled at a community college to keep learning to help my recovery.
I began exercising everyday at the campus fitness center. After a few years I did not limp, and my right hand opened outward because of my determination, willpower and hard work. My right fingers were still paralyzed so that was my next recovery goal. I made no new friends because I believed they would judge me as someone who was not talkative enough and no fun. I was lonely. My GPA was low, but I got my associate’s degree and transferred to Illinois State University.
At ISU I was exercising and studying more and making friends. I had a student speech therapist help with my language. It worked! I made myself go up to women who I did not know and began a conversation. They could understand me which increased my confidence. In three years, I got my bachelor’s degree in communication studies.
I got an internship at the Illinois state capitol in 2004. After my internship, I was hired full time and am currently a communications analyst for the Illinois General Assembly. In 2014 I completed my master’s degree in human services at the University of Illinois at Springfield. I graduated because I had great tutors and hard work. I workout 5-6 times a week. My partial paralysis has almost healed because of my hard work. I can jog, give good hand shanks, write sentences with my right fingers, and talk without difficulty.