“Not every day is sunny.”
Price Woodward stood with his wife Tammy on their balcony in Atlanta. It was a dreary day outside, yet they were still enjoying the view.
What makes a day spectacular or a view worth taking depends on your perspective and experience.
“Nothing is so small to count as a blessing,” Price said.
Tammy and Price Woodard have learned to look for beauty in everything.
“We appreciate the small success each day; we have come a long way together,” Tammy said.
It's been a slow process and more challenging than they could have imagined.
“But there has been a lot of hope in it too,” she added.
Things that used to take no thought or effort consume a lot of time and energy now.
“My left-hand does not work; I cannot button my pants.” Price pointed out. “Every morning when I get up out of the bed it takes 12 to 15 minutes to get my shoes on so I can get up.”
But there isn’t a morning when Price doesn’t also appreciate having the opportunity to live another day.
“Things changed before 6 a.m. and I heard Price making some strange noises,” Tammy said.
So she ran to the other side of the bed to check on him.
“I turned on the lamp on and looked down at him and realized that something really bad was wrong,” she said.
And she did not hesitate. She grabbed the phone and called 911. Something inside of Tammy told her it was a stroke. She was right.
“I saw the face droop and the arm stiffness and the slurred speech,” she said, remembering. “Thank goodness I didn’t waste any time.”
This was not anything they expected. Price and Tammy have run about a dozen marathons together. He was in great shape.
“It is the last thing I thought would happen to me,” he said.
The man who was running up to six miles a day before work before his stroke wondered if he’d ever take a step on his own again.
“His stroke was very bad; he will tell you he is a stroke survivor, not a stroke victim,” Tammy said.
There were long days at Shepard Center, exhausting rehabilitation, and at times, fragile hope.
“There have been a lot of days when you feel like your head is just above the waves and you feel like you are drowning at times; but we look back and say we made it through that storm,” Tammy said.
Looking back now, they see they have come a long way. Price uses a cane but is taking steps. He danced with his daughter at her wedding. He is seeing his grandchildren grow up. He still has his greatest support by his side.
Price reached for Tammy’s hand as he spoke.
“One of my biggest blessings has been Tammy,” he said. “We will have been married 33 years this summer.”
Thinking on all of those good things in life, not the things he has lost, keep them going.
“A key to overcoming the adversity is to think about the things you have to be grateful for,” Price said. “It is really hard to overcome an adversity when you are constantly focusing on the adversity.”
“If you start thinking about your blessings, it redirects your mind," he added. "All the sudden you are thinking about gratitude than adversity - that is easier said than done.”
It's that perspective that has changed their view day by day.
“It has saved us and given us hope and allowed us to get through this trial,” Price said.
Their experience is helping others see the beauty in adversity too. They are telling their story to encourage others.
“Having gone through this has given us the ability to speak into other people’s pain,” Tammy said.
It also gives them the opportunity to help others be more aware of the symptoms of stroke. Price Woodward had no family history of heart disease or stroke. He was the last person anyone would have expected to have a stroke.
“Knowing that something was wrong that night saved his life,” Tammy said.
For more information about stroke, go to StrokeAssociation.org.
To connect with the Metro Atlanta American Heart Association and American Stroke Association, go to Heart.org/Atlanta.
