Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified, for the Lord your God goes with you.” As a pastor in Onawa, Iowa, Stan Johnson has recited that verse dozens of times. After a stroke in October, he found his own faith being tested.
Stan thought his symptoms were the result of a virus. On a Sunday morning, he realized he didn’t have the strength to preach his sermon. That afternoon, he told his wife, Kris, that he needed to go to the emergency room. The doctor recognized the signs of a stroke and sent Stan to CHI Health in Council Bluffs. When his symptoms gradually got worse over the next few days, Stan and his wife knew medical rehabilitation would be the next step in his recovery.
“Because of our faith, we knew God would have us go wherever he intended us to go,” Kris, Stan’s wife, said. “That’s always kind of been our thing in ministry too is like, ‘Well Lord, where do you want us now?’ We had an army of people praying that it would be Madonna.”
Stan came to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals’ specialized stroke program, weak but highly motivated to succeed.
“My words were pretty garbled, and I couldn’t move my right side at all hardly,” Stan said.
Stan says he had to do a lot of soul searching, wondering how he would adjust to his new normal. He wrestled with the idea that he may never give sermons again, drive a vehicle, or pick up his grandkids. Instead of being discouraged, Stan viewed it as an opportunity to practice what he preaches.
“I believe that God is always in control,” Stan said. “He’s going before us and he’s following behind us. We’re never alone and each step of life including the times of adversity or suffering, God is with us and he’s shaping us and our hearts.”
Specialized technology, combined with his drive and a huge support system, helped accelerate Stan’s progress. The LiteGait bodyweight support system helped retrain his leg muscles and improve his coordination. The functional electrical stimulation (FES) bike helped awaken his arm muscles, and the ArmeoSpring offered a fun way to further refine those natural arm movements.
“The ArmeoSpring is a gravity-reduced robotic, and I explain it to patients like their arm is kind of a video game controller,” Faith Lambrecht, OTR/L, CAPS, Stan’s occupational therapist said. “He’s now doing a lot more of the motion on his own to participate in those games and return that functional use of his arm.”
Recreation therapy gave Stan a unique way to work on his arm strength and coordination. Games like Scattergories and Scrabble challenged him to write with his right hand. He was also able to take Madonna’s adapted tricycle out for a spin.
“He was riding for 20 minutes and we realized there was some added resistance of a flat tire, but he did so great,” Alannah DiBerardino, CTRS, Stan’s recreation therapist, said. “He was smiling, working so hard through it all. Even with a flat tire, he gave it his all.”
A little humor went a long way for Stan, and keeping faith at the center of everything allowed his care team to take a truly holistic approach to his care. Speech therapy had him give a short sermon in Madonna’s chapel. In physical therapy, Stan’s dual-tasking abilities were challenged as he recited verses while walking.
“Not only were we working on his physical deficits, but also his mind, body and soul,” Hannah Lutz, PT, DPT, Stan’s physical therapist, said. “We would often quote Bible verses when he first got here about being strong and courageous and not being afraid for the Lord is with you.”
Stan’s family offered constant support. His wife stayed with him at Madonna every day, and his kids and grandkids came to visit often.
“His family were his biggest cheerleaders,” DiBerardino said. “There were grandkids here, kids, family that came all the way from Minnesota, and his wife was constantly here. Seeing that family support was inspiring.”
From the beginning, Stan’s son documented his dad’s progress and started making short videos to share with his congregation. At first, Stan was a little hesitant.
“I didn’t know if I wanted people to see it at first because a man they looked at as being strong and capable, I really couldn’t do very much,” Stan said. “But I thought, well, it’s my story and perhaps as they see God’s faithfulness and how we’re depending on Jesus through each day, it could be encouraging.”
Throughout his three weeks at Madonna, Lutz says she noticed a change in the Bible verses Stan would quote.
“His verses became more of blessings and honoring,” Lutz said. “It was really a testament to his progress here. At first, he was a little scared and timid about how things would look when he would leave but he was so honored and blessed about how far he had come.”
A major turning point in his recovery came after Lambrecht had been away for a few days. When she came into his room to tell Stan she was looking forward to their occupational therapy session later that day, he raised his right arm and waved at her.
“He’s like, ‘Look what I can do,” Lambrecht said. “He’s waving his fingers, and I almost burst out into tears because the last time I saw him, he couldn’t even lift his arm all the way up. I was only gone for three days! That was incredible to see.”
Lutz says she challenged Stan to do something new and difficult every single day. The goal was to do one activity that focused on evidence-based high intensity gait training and get his heartrate up, and one activity that was functional, focused on returning to his life roles.
“We would have him lift weights to simulate playing with a grandkid or getting on the ground to play games or go to the gym and play basketball, and all the things he would do as a grandfather,” Lutz said. “Keeping that going, especially with a new grandbaby on the way, was really important for us to show him that he can still be as involved as he was previously.”
Knowing he had friends, family and a church community waiting for him to return, Stan gave his all in therapy. During breaks and on weekends, Kris was beside him, helping to carry over the skills he learned during the week. Their teamwork paid off.
“The first walking test that we did, he only got 62 feet and he was kind of discouraged by it, but he knew that we had some work to do,” Lutz said. “On the last day that he was here, he got 1300 feet, so an insane amount of progress done in just a short period of time.”
Throughout their stroke recovery journey, Stan and Kris have said they want God to get the glory in everything they do. Now back home in Iowa, Stan is hoping he can incorporate his story into his ministry.
“I hope that people will see we shouldn’t be so dependent upon our situation or circumstance to bring us peace and joy and happiness,” Stan said. “But as we abide in Christ and his life abides in us, whatever we’re going through, we can find reasons to be thankful.”
Stan says he’ll always be thankful for his Madonna care team and the progress he’s made here. He earned a Spirit Award for his work ethic and positivity. He’s looking forward to returning to preaching and his congregation is ready whenever he is. But first, he wants to focus on his recovery and continue to get stronger in outpatient therapy.
“I have a saying that we’re heading in the right direction,” Stan says. “We’re not there yet, but we’re heading in the right direction. That’s how I feel about this. We’re heading in the right direction.”