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Rick Herrmann had seven strokes in 3½ years. He fell out of work, suffered paralysis and even lost the ability to speak. Today, he runs a nonprofit called Snow Strokers, helping other stroke survivors rehabilitate through skiing.
“What better person to teach the disabled how to ski than a disabled person?” Herrmann said.
Broomfield resident Herrmann, 66, had his first stroke at 29. After multiple strokes, he was eventually diagnosed with isolated angiitis of the central nervous system. The strokes turned his life upside down.
Rick Hermman on the slopes of Eldora Mountain Resort.(Photo courtesy of Ignite Adaptive Sports )
He was unable to find work after his second stroke because of the widely held belief that most survivors die before their third stroke. His fourth caused paralysis on the right side of his body. He was then sent to a psychologist by his doctors to prepare to face his death. After his seventh stroke, Herrmann lost the ability to speak, having to go through rehabilitation to teach himself to talk again.
“Now, I’ll talk anybody’s head off,” he said with a laugh.
Between his sixth and seventh stokes, Herrmann skied again for the first time in years.
Though he had quit skiing in college, Herrmann participated in ski racing throughout middle and high school. When he was on the mountain, he said it was the first time in years he didn’t think about his health.
“It was just all skiing,” he said. “I wasn’t as good as I used to be, but I could ski.”
In 1987 following his seventh stroke, Herrmann began to teach skiing to people with disabilities at Eldora Mountain Resort. Over his 22 years of teaching, he never encountered another stroke survivor.
That’s when he decided to start Snow Strokers.
Snow Strokersis a nonprofit organization that educates stroke survivors on resources to learn to ski and provides transportation to Eldora. Snow Strokers also offers bike-riding programs in the summer.
Kevin Sheehan first met Herrmann through the bike-riding program.
In 2013, Sheehan had a severe hemorrhage stroke on the right side of his brain. As a result, he is paralyzed on the left side of his body. Herrmann encouraged him to start riding when he was still in a wheelchair.
“He said, ‘You get on that bike and get moving, stroke guy,’” Sheehan said with a laugh. “And so I did.”
After nearly six years, Herrmann this winter finally convinced Sheehan to give skiing a try. Sheehan called the experience the most exciting thing he’s done since his stroke.
“I got done with that two-hour lesson and I had more feeling on my left side than I have had in the full six years of conventional therapy,” Sheehan said. “I am so motivated to keep going. I can’t even put it into words.”
Esther Fretz, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Stroke Center, said this kind of motivation is key to continued progress for stroke survivors.
Fretz said stroke survivors make significant improvements through therapy and can make progress years after their strokes. But while professional treatments help, many cannot afford to continue them for extended periods. That’s where activities such as skiing can be crucial.
“If you don’t work, you lose the progress you’ve made,” Fretz said. “(Keeping active) is absolutely essential.”
Fretz, who knows Herrmann through her center’s support groups, said Herrmann is a “great testimony” to the importance of continued rehabilitation.
“You can make progress for the rest of your life,” she said.
Fretz also acknowledged the importance of emotional healing, something with which she said the skiing and community in Herrmann’s program are helpful. “It’s good for the soul,” she said.
Sheehan can attest to the emotional influence of Snow Strokers. He said after finishing his ski lesson, he thought, “I might actually be able to get back into life.”
Sheehan called Herrmann a “mentor” and “stroke hero.”
“The man is incredible to get you up and get moving,” Sheehan said. “You think you’re having trouble with your own struggle with stroke and then you talk to a guy who’s had seven.”
While Herrmann no longer teaches, he still skis at least 30 times each year. He also provides rides to Eldora and says he will continue to do so “as long as I can.”
“I fulfill a need,” Herrmann said. “If I don’t drive them out there, they wouldn’t get out there.”
Though Snow Strokers began in 2010, it has built most of its momentum in the last two years. In addition to skiing and biking, Snow Strokers this year is expanding to include mountain climbing. The nonprofit has assisted 25 stroke survivors with skiing and 40 overall.
“(Sometimes survivors) think they can’t do anything anymore,” Herrmann said. “All you have to do is have the will to learn.”
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