If you spend just five minutes watching Roger Wermers, you yourself might get tired.
The man does not stop moving.
We first introduced you to him and his wife Joyce after Roger, a sculptor, had two strokes in the same day. He and his wife were worried he might not get back to sculpting in the way he had all his life.
We thought we’d visit them again to check on how they’re doing.
Appointments show great progress
In February, Roger and Joyce ventured to Sioux Falls from their Estelline, South Dakota, farm for a routine checkup, involving a carotid doppler to look at blood flow through the carotid arteries.
“Everything looks good,” said Sanford Health vascular interventional neurologist Karan Topiwala, M.D. “When I met him a year ago, he had come in with a stroke. His carotid artery on the right was blocked. He had a clot up to his brain. He had gotten blood thinners and a stent, and everything looks good.”
Dr. Topiwala said it was a gift to see Roger, and seeing his spirits in the clinic tells him “more than any scan would.”
“In today’s office visit, we talked a lot about his art and his paintings, and it struck a chord with me because I paint and obviously when you’re treating somebody with a stroke, you’re treating for the illness that they have, and you don’t get to see the human side. That often gets masked by the illness they have.
“Today I got to see the person he is, it’s truly quite something to see.”
Always staying busy using his full set of tools
One of the things we remember most about the first time we talked with Roger was how his goal was to get back to using his whole arsenal of tools to work on his sculptures.
“When I get better, I’ll get my big grinder out and I’ll go at it, it’ll go bzzzzzz,” laughed Roger.
He met that goal.
He’s not only strong enough to hold the big grinder to the stone to create his sculptures, but he’s also strong enough to do every task around the farm.
At 85 years old.
“I have breakfast at about 7. As I’m having breakfast I sit there and make a list of what am I going to get done today?
“You saw the carving I did down there. Then I go out and start the tiller and do a little tilling in the garden, planting and stuff like that,” said Roger while sitting down for a 4 p.m. piece of homemade zucchini bread and cup of coffee.
Related: ‘Time is brain’ for patient who recovered from stroke
Joyce Wermers said she’s amazed by his turnaround, but she’s not surprised.
“I know his grit and his determination and his faith and his purpose because he has a gift,” she said.
Joyce and Roger are in the process of downsizing and selling their farm.
They’re planning to build a new, smaller house in town. Roger will still sculpt and paint – at a studio in downtown Estelline.
Learn more
- Sculptor is back to life’s work after lifesaving stroke care
- Strokes: 5 surprising facts about who’s at risk
- Father of seven survives stroke with quick, coordinated care
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Posted In Brain & Spine, Emergency Medicine, Neurology, Sioux Falls
