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Lynn Parker remains spry while dealing with side effects of third stroke in 14 years
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
Lynn Parker has his keys around his neck and his phone on unlock — and close to him just in case he has a fourth stroke.
He also can hit his car alarm, and his Woodland Avenue neighbors will come to his aid.
These new adjustments for Parker have come since his third stroke in late October, from which he is still suffering memory issues.
“Every day is an adventure because you have no memory of yesterday. Everyday is Groundhog Day,” Parker said, laughing.
Tests are still being run to determine how bad the last stroke was, he said.
“They’re going to send me down for some more testing — find out what my deficiencies are. I got to find out what I lost with this last stroke.”
He continued, “I can’t remember stuff. Can’t remember names. Can’t remember to do stuff ... I have to write it down, but then I throw the paper away.”
Parker also said that he has lost a little use of one of his hands and legs.
But that hasn’t stopped him from what he does: Being involved at township trustee meetings or working the polls this past election. And, he said he’s thankful every day.
“I can still stand up, walk, still know where I am,” Parker said. “There was a time when I didn’t know that. The one stroke I had, I would go to the end of the driveway and not know what house was mine ... You look at pictures on the wall, and you don’t know who your family is.”
That went on for six to seven months and he had to re-learn how to walk, read and write.
Parker married his wife, Judy, in 1992 after the couple met at a New Year’s Eve party in 1989, he recalled. She now works as a video-lottery terminal technician at Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course, paying jackpots out to lucky players.
“She stuck with me through all of this,” Parker said.
They’ve lived in Austintown for a few years after moving from Warren, Parker’s hometown.
On top of the strokes, Parker also deals with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from his time in the Army during the Vietnam War.
Parker said because of the PTSD, and subsequently the strokes, he has launched himself into community matters to stay active and not sit idle all day.
His first stroke happened in 2000 after he was electrocuted at work.
He said the doctors have figured out that an irregular heartbeat combined with high blood pressure led to blood clots and his most recent stroke.
Still, he attended a trustees meeting just days after that stroke. Before the meeting, a few township officials talked with Parker to make sure he was doing alright.
“It means a lot,” he said. “The neighbors seem to care more than some of the other places I’ve been. They do look out for you more.”
Parker frequently talks at trustees meetings — at times questioning trustees’ decisions while other times applauding them for the work they do. He said he also was involved at Warren City Council meetings when he lived there.
At the Nov. 10 trustees meeting, Parker jested at the chiefs of the township fire and police departments about his most recent stroke.
He said he couldn’t recall how to unlock his phone or what to do, so he figured if he drove slowly against the curb of state Route 46 that he would run into a police or fire vehicle.
Instead, he made it all the way to the emergency care center, where he was transported to St. Elizabeth Hospital Youngstown for further treatment.
Austintown Fire Chief Andy Frost III said the calls they receive the most are for strokes, shortness of breath and chest pain. “Always call 911 just because it’s the easiest one to remember and they get the same dispatcher for the fire department or police department,” in a medical emergency, Frost said.
Parker said he looked at using different systems – but many used land line phones, something he and his wife don’t have.
“Technology has been great so far with keeping phones on people, but it has hindered us with trying to pinpoint people,” Frost said. “Until GPS [Global Positioning System] is on every phone and activated and used by 911, it’s impossible to use it as well as a land line.”
With strokes, “you never know when they’re going to hit and if you’ve had one, there’s always going to be another one. You can’t stop it,” Parker said. “When you can’t walk from that counter to this table,” Parker pointed to the 30 feet gap in his kitchen, “that’s bad.”
When talking about his life, he struggles to remember specific years, Parker said, “That’s the problem with strokes – you can’t remember days or years. What you think is last year is five years. You lose that ability to judge time.”