Stroke Victim's Family Needs Help To Bring Loved One Home. Angel MedFlight steps up to the plate.

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Angel MedFlight Helps bring Stroke Victim Home

News Desk Anchor:
A Massachusetts man is home tonight after a long ordeal. Steven Hill suffered a stroke a month ago in Jamaica. His insurance flew him to the states but not back to Massachusetts. It took the help of family, friends and strangers to get him to Boston. News center 5 Pam Cross joins us now with the story of his long journey home.

Correspondent on Location - Pam Cross:
We are on the edge of Logan Airport outside a private terminal and yes we did tell you about Steven Hill first last week. He needed a special medical flight to get him from a Miami hospital to Brigham and Women's. It did happen tonight but not before the help of some very special angels to make it happen. Steven Hill at thirty-three looks strong and healthy but his Caribbean vacation last month ended in a hospital stay He’d suffered a major stroke. Tonight he’s in Boston flown in by Angel MedFlight. Insurance paid for his ride to the United States, but it took Angel MedFlight and the help of others to get him from Miami to Boston.

Patient’s Father – Steven Hill:
“He needs rehab. I mean this is what he really needs now. He needs professional rehab so that they can focus on exactly what his issues are and then work on those.”

Correspondent on Location - Pam Cross:
His sister created a website and foundation in his name because his long recovery is going to cost.

Patient’s Sister – Kelly Chadwick:
“The support that we’ve received so far, I mean I’m blown away every day. It really is showing you how great people can be.”

Correspondent on Location - Pam Cross:
His wife who was also on the Jamaica vacation flew in with him today. Hills mother said she just can’t believe how many people have come forward to help.

Patient’s Mother - Marilyn Hill:
“He can just walk into a room and everyone will be his friend instantly. He’s just very laid back but he would do anything for anybody.”

Patient’s Sister – Kelly Chadwick:
“He’s doing better. We keep saying two steps forward 1 step back. And I’ll take that because he’s still moving in the right direction.”

Patient’s Wife - Tanya Hill:
“I can’t believe the amount of friends, family, people we don’t even know have come to our aid. And even the people down in Florida. I mean today things were so emotional it was like leaving a family. It was great. Then Angel MedFlight came and they’ve been wonderful and they got us back to Boston.”

Correspondent on Location - Pam Cross:
And Tanya Hill told me tonight she cannot describe how happy she is to be home. While Steven can’t speak yet his family says they are encouraged by his progress.

Link to News Story:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/video/19876689/index.html

Story Update:

BOSTON --
An estimated 700,000 Americans suffer a stroke every year. For those who survive, the road to recovery is long. Therapy is essential.

NewsCenter 5's Liz Brunner reported Monday on a young stroke survivor who is making great strides.

"You say for better and for worse, and those words mean a lot to me," said Tanya Hill, of Bellingham, Mass.

Tanya and her husband, Steven's life took a turn for the worst last May. They were on a Caribbean vacation when Steven Hill, 33, suffered a massive stroke. His insurance flew him to the States, but not back to Massachusetts. Angel MedFlight stepped in to help, and he was flown back to Boston to be admitted to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.

"When he first came home, you couldn't do anything without shadowing him. He couldn't brush his teeth, he couldn't eat his meals," Tanya Hill said.

Since Steven was discharged from Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in August, he has been undergoing intense rehabilitation. Five days a week he works with Spaulding therapists in Framingham and Wellesley.

"It's kind of like a train ride right now. Everything is going pretty fast," Tanya said.

"He's climbing stairs fine. He's walking around on his own. We've weaned him off a cane," said Ashley Saulnier, a physical therapist with Spaulding Framingham. "He's so drive. He's so motivated."

The focus Monday was on his weakened ankle, and his weakened right arm and right hand.

"His right ankle doesn't flex as well as we want it to, so it throws off his walking pattern," Saulnier said.

By practicing simple tasks like feeding the cat, he is beginning to regain strength in his hand and arm.

"I know that's very frustrating for him," Tanya said.

Steven is about to get a device that uses electrical stimulation to improve how his hand works. Therapists say botox injections will help him regain use of both his hand and ankle.

"He'll be able to strike down with his heel first, and then bring his toe down," Saulnier said.

Hill is grateful for every accomplishment, big or small.

"To see him progress really warms my heart every day," she said.

The Hills say they get their strength from the support of family, friends and the community. The Steven T. Hill Stroke Foundation has been set up to help Steven get the help he needs.

Original Story:

BOSTON -- Steven Hill, 33, is a native of Lexington who his family said was the picture of health the day before he collapsed while on vacation in Jamaica.

"That morning Steven came out of the bathroom, and had said he had pain in his arm, and he had his first seizure," said his wife, Tanya Hill, in an interview on Skype.

She explained Steven was taken to a small local hospital.

"They released him, and when he stood up to be released is when he had a major seizure that went on for about 20 minutes, and that's when they believe that he actually suffered the stroke," said Hill.

"He's bleeding on one side of his brain, and then on the other side, on the right side of the frontal lobe he has a major clot, which is clotting the major vein that goes down and drains into your heart," said his younger sister, Kelly Chadwick.

Newscenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported Wednesday that travel insurance paid for Hill to be flown to a hospital in Aventura, Florida, where he has been in extremely critical condition. Because his insurance covers transportation to the nearest medical facility, Blue Cross Blue Shield will not pay the $15,000 cost of medflighting him home to Boston.

Steven's sister has already scheduled two fundraisers for her brother. The first one is on July 15 in Boston's financial district. The second one is the following night at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Lexington.

While his parents rushed to his bedside, Steven's sister set up a foundation and an online blog that details the need to raise money, because the air ambulance home will be the least of his medical expenses. With his speech and movements severely impaired, his sister said the family is prepared for a rehabilitation that likely will take years.