Emmy and Tony Award-winning Actress Julie Harris to Headline University of Michigan Aphasia Program Event

         June 2007 celebration honors program's 60-year success

   ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Julie Harris, one
of the most awarded actresses of the stage and screen, will headline the
University of Michigan Aphasia Program's (UMAP) 60th anniversary
fundraising event, "It's a RAP: 60 Year Celebration of the University of
Michigan Aphasia Program." The event also includes an exclusive screening
of her new movie, "The Way Back Home," in which Ms. Harris portrays a woman
who had a stroke. The event will take place June 1-2, 2007.
   (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070425/CLW035 )
   Julie Harris, 81, is a former client of the University of Michigan
Aphasia Program (http://www.aphasiahelp.com). She attended the program in May 2006
as part of her recovery from a stroke and resulting aphasia that occurred
in May 2001.
   Ms. Harris is regarded as the most respected and honored stage actress
in America and is the most honored performer in Tony history with 10
nominations and five victories (1952, 1956, 1969, 1973 and 1977). She is
the only actress to date to receive 10 nominations and received a Lifetime
Achievement Award in 2002. During her acting career, she won three Emmys
(1962, 1969 and 2000). Television fans of "Knots Landing" remember her
fondly in the role of Lilimae Clemens. She was awarded the American
National Medal of the Arts in 1994 by the National Endowment of the Arts in
Washington D.C. and was a recipient of 2005 Kennedy Center Honors, along
with Robert Redford, Tina Turner, Tony Bennett and Suzanne Farrell. She was
born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

National Award presented to Adler Aphasia Center

National Award presented to Adler Aphasia Center Board Member
ParamusPost.com - Pampus,NJ,USA
The National Aphasia Association presented Audrey Holland, honoree at the
NAA’s Annual Spring Gala, with the 2007 National Aphasia Advocacy Award
on ...

What Was In My Mind (WWIMM???!!!)

Daddy's having this problem that we're currently trying to resolve with speech therapy, etc.

... "A person may speak only in single words (e.g., names of objects)
or in short, fragmented phrases. Smaller words of speech (e.g., the , of , and
), may be omitted, making the message sound like a telegram. Words may be put in
the wrong order. Incorrect grammar may be used. Sounds and/or words may be
switched..." (read more)

... "Persons with aphasia may tire easily and show extreme emotional fluctuations and inappropriate emotions—laughing when something isn't funny or crying for no apparent reason, particularly early in the recovery process. They may also seem very self-absorbed and show an intense need for an unchanging routine..." (read more)

Romish Receptive Aphasia

There is a recent medical phenomenon that I believe I might be the first to have noticed. It is a neurologic condition that involves the senses, in particular, the auditory pathway of reception. It is rather complex and my research is at this point empiric and preliminary but I post in the hopes that other bloggers have noted it. Perhaps with enough data collected, I may be able to formulate a plan of therapy and perhaps, a safe and effective treatment.

I have tentatively called it Romish Receptive Aphasia. In medical parlance, a receptive aphasia is a neurologic condition caused by a cerebrovascular accident leaving the victim incapable of understanding speech via the auditory pathways. Interestingly enough, a person with receptive aphasia can sometimes perceive written language via the visual tracts without difficulty but has marked difficulty in receiving the correct auditory message through the aural pathway(ears).

Sharon's Home!!!

Most of you know we've still got an activated PoA in place, due to Sharon's aphasia. Well, this lovely place sent Sharon home on Lexapro. Without telling me. Without *any* diagnosis of anxiety *or* depression! They routinely stopped and started medications without letting me know. Her fibula was broken in December by a member of the therapy staff. They have some nurses who ought to be fired and some aides who are way too aggressive with the residents. They even sent her via ambulance to see a doctor she'd never seen before 45 minutes ahead of schedule (when they knew I was expecting the ambulance at a specific time and had planned to be there at that time) and didn't bother to call me. So, I had to high-tail it all the way across town, missed her at the other end (the ambulance was just pulling away when I got there) and had to wait to see the doctor so that I could explain why she was there in the first place. Grrrrrrrrrr.

'I can't say it' By Jim Turner-Editor

A year ago this week, a Russellville woman married her 'soulmate' and expected to live happily ever after. "Ever after" has turned out to be about three weeks.

She spent her anniversary weekend selling almost everything she owns, trying to get enough money to pay her debts and to continue her legal battle to bring her husband back home from a Nashville nursing home where she contends he is being kept against his will.

She believes she speaks for her husband as they fight for his rights to live a normal, happy life after he suffered a condition called aphasia, as a result of a stroke he suffered on May 8, 2006 while he was on their honeymoon.

This is their story, as told by her. Other people involved in the year-long ordeal undoubtedly would tell it differently.

Cathy Wilkins Drake met Willie Paul Ackerman at what was then Libby's near the Logan-Todd county line at Daysville. He was the drummer for the band which played weekends at the entertainment center/steakhouse.

She didn't know it then, but Willie Paul was well known in Nashville music circles. He had been a busy session musician for decades, playing on the recordings of some of Music City's brightest stars. He also spent over 22 years as the drummer for the ultra-successful television show, 'Hee Haw." He created the well-known segue to commercials with pretty country girls saying "We'll be right back" with good humor.

Marathons as therapy

Jessica Pollock overcomes two strokes

By Jennifer Toland TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF jtoland@telegram.com

WORCESTER— Mile 14 begins the steepest climb of the Vermont City Marathon in Burlington, and at mile 15, Jessica Pollock’s legs, body, mind were feeling the grueling gradient.

“I hit the wall,” Pollock said. “I was looking for any reason at all to give up.”

But during that race two years ago, Pollock, a Worcester resident and Clark University graduate, remembered an offhand comment an acquaintance had made to her before the race, something about there being “a few of us who think you can’t do it.”


Can’t do it.

Those words stung, but the more she thought about them, the more they pushed Pollock through the toughest part of the course and to the finish line. She completed her first marathon in 5 hours, 53 minutes.

Mile 15? In her life Pollock has faced — and conquered — much higher obstacles. NEXT..............

Brain Attacks and Prominent People

Famous leaders and celebrities who have experienced strokes:


Darin McGavin- Actor v

David Merrick - Broadway producer v

Empress Michiko - Empress of Japan

Thelonius Monk - Jazz musician v

Bill Monroe - Father of bluegrass music v

Patricia Neal - Actress

Pat Nixon - Former First Lady v

Richard Nixon - Former U.S. President

Minnie Pearl - Country music performer v

Oscar Peterson - Jazz pianist

Martha Raye - Actress/singer v

Ben Vereen - Entertainer

Deng Xiao Ping - Chinese political leader v

Della Reese - Actress/singer

J.R. Richard - Major league baseball player

Hugh Rodham - Father of First Lady Hilary Rodham Clinton v

Ginger Rogers - Dancer/actress v

• Franklin D. Roosevelt - Former U.S. President v

• Robert Shaw - Conductor, Atlanta Symphony v

• Josef Stalin - Russian leader v

• Willie Stargell - Baseball legend v

• Robert Lewis Stevenson - Author v
During the evening, while conversing with his wife and straining to open a bottle of wine, he suddenly fell to the ground, asking "What's the matter with me? What is this strangeness? Has my face changed?" He died within a few hours, probably of a cerebral hemorrhage, at the age of 44.


• Potter Stewart - Former Supreme Court Justice v

• Bill Tavoulareas - Former Mobil Oil President v

• Mel Torme - Singer v

• Jackie Mayer Townsend - Miss America 1963

• Fred Waring - Pennsylvanians' conductor v

• Ted Williams - Major league baseball player v

• Woodrow Wilson - Former U.S. President


• Mary Kay Ash - Cosmetics entrepreneur v

• Les Aspin - Former U.S. Defense Secretary v

• Laverne Baker - Rock & roll singer v

• Anne Baxter - Actress v

• Barbara Bel Geddes - Actress

• Joseph Biden - U.S. Senator

• Ray Bradbury - Author

• Justice William Brennan - Supreme Court Justice v

• Art Buchwald - Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist

• Harry Caray - Sports commentator v

• Margaret Chase Smith - Politician v

• Winston Churchill - Former Prime Minister of England v

• Adolphus “Doc” Cheatham - Jazz trumpeter v

• Claudette Colbert - Actress v

• Joseph Cotten - Actor v

• Paul Coverdell - Former U.S. Senator v

• Cassandra Danson - Ex-wife of actor Ted Danson

• Bette Davis - Actress v

• Agnes de Mille - Actress/choreographer v

• Charles Dickens - Novelist v

• Kirk Douglas - Actor

• Dwight Eisenhower - Former U.S. President

• Dale Evans - Cowgirl performer v

• Federico Fellini - Italian film director v

• Gerald Ford --Former U.S. President

• William Fulbright - Former U.S. Senator

• Alan Funk - TV Producer/Host v

• Ava Gardner - Actress v

• Pauline Gore - Vice President Al Gore's Mother

• Glenn Gould - Classical pianist v

• Cary Grant - Actor v

• Robert Guillaume – Actor

• Ernest Hamilton - Father of Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton v

• Lionel Hampton - Vibrophonist

• Warren G. Harding - Former U.S. President v

• Pamela Harriman - U.S. Ambassador to France v

• Hugh Heffner - Magazine Publisher

• Rick James – Singer

• Thomas Jefferson - Former U.S. President v

• Lady Bird Johnson (Claudia Taylor) -Former First Lady

• Marv Johnson - Motown singer v

• Grandpa Jones (Louis Marshall) -Actor v

• Quincy Jones - Record producer

• Raul Julia - Actor v

• Ken Kelsey - Author

• Ruby Keeler - Actress v

• Gene Kelly - Actor/dancer v

• Rose Kennedy - Kennedy family matriarch v

• Ed Koch -Former Mayor of New York City

• Burt Lancaster - Actor v

• Burton Lane - Composer v

• Jonathan Larson - Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright v

• William Leonard - Former CBS

ABC7Chicago.com

Speak again after stroke through song

March 28, 2007 - According to the American Heart Association, about 700,000 Americans suffer a stroke every year. That means, every 45 seconds, someone has a stroke in this country. More than 60 percent of strokes occur in females and nearly 30 percent of all stroke victims are under age 65. If a person survives a stroke, they are often left with any number of physical challenges as a result. Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States. Today, about 5.5 million stroke survivors are living in the United States.

APHASIA: According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, aphasia is a language disorder caused by damage to one or more of the language areas of the brain. Aphasia can impair the expression and understanding of language as well as reading and writing. About one in five stroke survivors have difficulty with language.