Get Joe Ronan Talking Again

On September 15 Joe Ronan suffered a serious stroke.

You may know Joe as a ski guide, the father of Aidan and Sasha (ages 11 and 8), an electrician, a Leafs fan or a friend you mountain bike with.

From the early days when Joe could not speak, swallow or walk he has made amazing progress in a short time. If you know Joe, you know how determined and strong he is. He has been focusing all of his spirit and effort on recovering. He is now in rehab at the Nanaimo Regional Hospital and speed walking laps around the neighbourhood. He is regaining use of his right hand (telling the therapists he needs to use it for mountain biking). His biggest challenge and frustration at the moment is aphasia and apraxia of speech caused by the stroke. Aphasia impairs a person's ability to process language, but doesn't affect intelligence.  Apraxia results in difficulty coordinating the muscles used to produce the correct sounds of speech. 

Joe has been receiving great speech therapy but only a limited amount is available per day at the hospital. In a couple of weeks he will be discharged and that amount will be further reduced to 3 days a week. Joe works non-stop on his own on language exercises but finds the therapy very helpful and is desperate to have more in order to speed his recovery. His inability to communicate through written or spoken words is a huge frustration and a barrier to working, parenting and relating to friends and family. The family would like to increase the therapy time that is currently provided with a private speech language pathologist.

The goal is to raise enough money to supplement the available therapy to provide 5 days per week for the next six months. Joe is working so hard to get back to his life. We can help him by providing the resources.

All funds will be transfered to Joe's spouse, Laura Christie, to organize the speech therapy.