Published on November 18, 2011

“A Walking, Talking Miracle”

Stroke survivor raises awareness at Turkey Trot

Genie Meyer will have a lot to be thankful for when she hands out medals to stroke survivors on Thanksgiving Day at the annual Scott County Family Y Turkey Trot.

She’s alive. She’s out of the wheelchair. She talks. She walks long distances. She can hold a fork and feed herself turkey.

Five Thanksgivings have passed since she nearly died from a ruptured brain aneurysm in early 2006. At first, doctors offered little hope -- a mere 25 percent chance of surviving. Genie Meyer spent 23 days in an Iowa City intensive care unit. Over the next year, she would live at inpatient rehabilitation units at Genesis Medical Center, Davenport and in Omaha and at a local nursing home before finally returning to her Davenport home. Still to come: round-the-clock care and months of outpatient rehabilitation.

At first she couldn’t speak, only communicating with a smile or unexplained crying. The prospect of standing and walking again was a distant hope.

She had been an avid runner, completing nine full marathons before suffering the ruptured aneurysm, also called a hemorrhagic stroke, on Jan. 17, 2006.

A year later and after intense rehabilitation and eye surgery to remedy blood clots affecting her sight, she had progressed to walking 30 feet with her walker.

Recovering from brain injury would be her longest race yet.

“Today, Genie is a walking, talking miracle,” says her husband, Charlie Meyer. “She has gone from almost dying to finishing this year’s Quad Cities Half Marathon (13.1 miles) in 4 hours, 16 minutes.”

Hope and encouragement

The Meyers will join other stroke survivors at the Scott County Family Y’s annual Turkey Trot in Davenport, held on Thanksgiving Day morning. As part of an effort with the Y and the Genesis Stroke Prevention and Recovery Center, supporters of stroke awareness will wear unique green race T-shirts to show that hope and hard work can bring many reasons to be thankful.

Genie, 55, who has an injured foot, won’t be able to walk the Turkey Trot as planned. However, she and her husband will give medals and encouragement to people who have had a stroke.

“It will mean very much to me to be at the finish line,” she says with emotion. “It will be very special for me to say to them, ‘You can do it. You can do it.’ “

A regular runner in the Quad Cities Marathon, she returned 21 months after her stroke to be in the event’s 5K race. “I did the 5K being pushed in a wheelchair,” she recalls. “It still makes me cry to see that picture.”

Genie is well-known in Quad Cities running circles as “The Bubble Lady,” the runner with the bubble machine who plays oldies music and gives encouragement at the “Bix at Six.” Even before her health crisis, she was always cheering people on.

After a year hiatus from Bix at Six, Genie returned in 2007 to her post along the route -- and has progressed over the past several years from a wheelchair to a walker to sitting in a chair to standing on her own without assistance.

Life is therapy

Genie and her husband live by the premise, “There’s no such thing as a non-therapy moment.”

Her drive and impressive recovery prompted the National Stroke Association to feature Genie’s story, written by her husband, on the association’s website last month.

“She is still working on improving her speech and memory skills; continues to strive to improve so she can be totally independent; and, wants to run another marathon some day,” says her husband, Charlie, who was an EMT/firefighter in Davenport for 31 years.

“Physically, her right side has made a 90 percent recovery; she still has grip problems with her hand; and, her knee doesn’t straighten out completely. Mentally, she has short-term memory problems, and she has difficulty expressing herself in clear, concise terms. Her mental acuity is always improving.”

From the inpatient unit and outpatient therapy at Genesis, to graduating from the Genesis Learning Independence for Tomorrow (LIFT) program, to receiving support from the Genesis Stroke Prevention and Recovery Center, she continues to defy her initial prognosis.

“Genie has shown that hard work, determination and a strong spiritual commitment can and does work miracles,” her husband says. “There is a lot of mystery with brain injury. There doesn’t have to be a finish line...you can continue to improve.”

Social worker Alicia Owens, who coordinates the Genesis Stroke Prevention and Recovery Center, says Genie is an example for others.

“She and Charlie have always had the philosophy that ‘every moment is a therapeutic moment,’” Owens says. “From the beginning, they understood that the foundation is laid with outpatient and inpatient rehab for the rest of their lives. Patients have to work to implement outside of rehab what they’ve been taught in rehab and continue to expand upon that.“

The Meyers hope to see many stroke survivors and caregivers at the Turkey Trot. “Everyone has been affected by stroke in one way or another,” Charlie concludes. “Stroke is an important health issue.”