Hockey aids recovery

May 19, 2008

By Steve Heath
Special to USAHockey.com

Editor's note: May is National Stroke Awareness Month. For information, go to http://www.stroke.org/.

Instead of blaming hockey, Garrett Mendez thanks it.

Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he relishes each day he can work hard on his road to recovery.

"I really have to give credit to playing hockey all these years," said the 21 year old. "I've been playing hockey since I was three years-old and it's given me the discipline, the will and the motivation to recover."

Mendez played four varsity seasons at Notre Dame High School in Fairfield, Conn. He was one of the state's top scorers. He was attending Western New England College in Springfield, Mass., and playing on a junior team when, on the Friday after Thanksgiving in 2005, he suffered a massive brain stem stroke.

Although neither family nor doctors are 100 percent sure why Garrett suffered a stroke, the family and many believe it was the result of a head-first hit into the boards while diving for a loose puck during a game nearly one week prior to the stroke.

Mendez awoke that Friday with flu-like symptoms; the following morning his parents couldn't wake him at all. He was unable to speak, see or swallow. He was fully paralyzed.

"It's the most horrific thing you could imagine," Garrett's mother, Eileen Mendez said.

"It's a one-in-a-million thing for a 19-year old to be a stroke victim," said Garrett's best friend and former Notre Dame teammate Jeff Velleca, who described his buddy as a hockey player and one not to shy away from diving across the ice to block an opponent's slap shot. "And he could put the puck in the net."

He adds, "(Garrett) has had constant support from his family and friends. Mentally, he is one of the strongest people I know."

After three weeks in ICU and eight weeks in a rehabilitation center, Mendez, with the help of a walker, was out of the hospital. His vision had returned and he was eating again.

He was out of the hospital, but hardly back to where he was before the stroke. Therapy continues, five times per week.

His progress is amazing. The left side of his body is back to 100 percent and his speech is getting clearer. He still walks with a limp and he's relearning how to drive.

One of the most amazing things to Garrett and his family is his return to the ice. Once a week, as part of his therapy, he skates. At first, he had to do it with a walker. Recently, and without a walker, he and Velleca skated together and passed the puck back and forth.

"At first it was really hard but it's getting easier and easier," Garrett said. "I used to do it without thinking."

"The first time he went on the ice he could only stand up with our help," said Velleca, whose New Hampshire Monarchs team won the Eastern Junior Hockey League championship. "To be able to get some hockey aspect back ... I mean, we all love hockey. To see him this far back is an amazing thing."

Garrett's life has changed forever, but not once has he been bitter.

"What good is it to say, ‘Why me?'" he said. "You have to pick up the pieces and move forward. There isn't anything I think I can't do."

Along with continuing his recovery - he loves the intensity of therapy workouts and wishes he could work out like he did when he played hockey - Garrett is giving back.

He recently shared his experience to a large crowd at an event at Sacred Heart University. He was a stroke ambassador for the American Heart/Stroke Association's Heart Walk in New Haven, Conn., last year. Soon after he left the hospital, and prior to his regaining his speech, he helped coach a youth hockey team. Earlier this year, Notre Dame retired his jersey.

He said he's gone from never wanting to speak in front of a crowd to loving it and he wants to help others recover better from having strokes.

"He doesn't look back. He looks forward," said Eileen.

Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.