Nick Elrod: Police officer, drill sergeant and yup… young stroke survivor

“For complainers: I’ve conquered a mountain while you’re sitting there bitching about a hill.”

If there were actually a such thing as “good timing” for a stroke, Nick Elrod was punctual. He was surrounded by 30 police officers and EMTs as part of the police academy when he had his stroke at age 21.

Nick was performing driving exercises at 140 miles an hour, when he hit one of the cones in the course. He stopped, stepped out of his police car and his tall, lean, 6’2” frame toppled to the ground. Then his fellow officers rushed him and immediately kicked in to rescue mode.

Yet no one knew Nick was having a stroke – except Nick. His father had a stroke two years prior and explained to him in detail what the experience physically felt like. Now Nick was experiencing what his father endured — and it felt the same.

But the emergency responders and doctors at the hospital treated him incorrectly for a drug overdose for the first hour, mistakenly believing (a strong possibility of stereotyping him due to his age, as happens to many young stroke survivors), that he was on drugs.

Nick was paralyzed on both sides of his body. He couldn’t feel his own body. He couldn’t speak and his mind was in a far away place.

He was trapped.

But somehow… timing was on Nick’s side again. The CAT scan revealed a massive ischemic brain stroke. He received the life-saving tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) within 15 minutes of the three-hour window it takes for the treatment to dissolve those clots and improve blood flow to the brain before the damage becomes permanent.

If tPA is administered in time, it can greatly improve the chances of recovering from a stroke. Minute by minute following the treatment, Nick could feel his sensation returning, as if life were literally being breathed into him again, inch by inch, from head to toe.

This is where Nick’s recovery began. He was in the hospital for a week. And he put in lots of time in outpatient rehab and working out.

Seems unbelievable, but just three months after his release, Nick rejoined the police academy to finish what he started before his stroke. Still, Nick wasn’t able to find a job as a police officer, as no department would take him due to his medical history.

He was cash-strapped and had maxed out all of his credit cards, in yet another unfair predicament many young stroke survivors face: Losing their current jobs due to the stroke, and then having trouble with subsequent employment because of discrimination.

But Nick carried on. He leaned on his father, who knew exactly what he was going through, especially in mourning things he lost, like short-term memory, the ability to take a jovial spin, or feel the wind in his hair as he flies down a hilly roller coaster.

Nick recalled a touching visit from his best friend Frank LaFata in the hospital. Upon seeing Nick constricted, and on breathing and feeding tubes, his friend crawled into bed with him, held him and cried. That’s when Nick said he learned the true meaning of friendship, which was solidified by those who would constantly visit him and call to check up.

His friends and family continued to pull Nick through as he recovered. He was in pain, and pain brought him to a dark place, where he thought he would always feel “off,” with a constant throbbing head looming over his days.

One morning was different. He got up and vowed to change: “Regardless of whether I will have another stroke or not, I wanted to make the best out of my life. I decided I needed to get back to my normal life again and doing normal things,” Nick said.

So he started at the bottom of the totem pole at Prudential Security in metro Detroit.

A year later, Nick was talking fast, managing 1,500 employees at Prudential Security and even serving as a body guard for high profile entertainers (Maybe even that snarling, toe-headed rapper who’s friends with Dr. Dre, has mommy issues and an ex who wears tons of lip liner!)

Nick is also a drill sergeant for the police academy, where he trains cops and makes them run eight miles — behind him.

Update: As of March 2014, Nick will start as a police officer with the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office!

Needless to say, Nick is yet another one of our survivor, solja badasses! He let’s nothing get in his way of recovering and living a full life. And he takes no prisoners if you’re a complainer. Time continues to be on Nick’s side as he recovers.

Here’s what more that Nick told me when I had the immense privilege of getting to know him:

Birthday: September 13, 1990

Age at stroke: 21

Type of stroke: Ischemic

Cause: Unknown

How it affected you: I lost everything, brain function, speech, paralysis in right and left sides of my body, sensation… until I was given tPA.

How was your recovery: I’ve had nearly a full recovery. But I have residual problems with my brain, like dizziness, headaches and forgetfulness. I have mini seizures. Sometimes I can’t even feel them.

Occupation: Operations manager at Prudential Security

Advice for young stroke survivors: It gets better. You just have to push. Quitting is for quitters. Our life is what you make it regardless of what’s happened to you. You’re in control of your own destiny. It’s just another step. For complainers: I’ve conquered a mountain while you’re sitting there bitching about a hill.

Your fave activity: I’m a big movie guy. It’s a problem. Once a week I got to Walmart and dive into the Blu-rays. I collect them. I also get tattooed once a week at Big Top Tattoo in Utica.

What do you do to keep healthy: Since I’ve had a stroke, I don’t drink anything with caffeine; no pop, coffee tea. Energy drinks are the devil. I used to drink two Red Bulls a day and they said that’s a factor of why I had my stroke. I limit alcohol and partying. I’m always conscious of protecting my head. Keeping my stress level down by talking to people close to me, like my best friend. I know I feel like shit so I control it myself.

Fave therapy: Running (I was told not to lift weights). Music.

Therapy tip: When you’re going through therapy, you think, “I’m never going to be able to do this again.” But if you give up, you’ll never know. The hardest thing you can do is try.

Hobbies: Working and I’m into guns.

Interesting fact about you: After having my stroke. My vision has flip flopped. I was right eye dominant. Now I am left eye dominant.

Get pumped up song(s): Close Your Eyes, “Valleys,” “Keep the Lights On.”

Friends in the area in stroke community: My dad, Jeff Elrod. We understand each other. We also gang up on my mom and have a sense of humor about it, like when we’re in the car together, we say “let’s hop into the stroke mobile!”

What you want to see for stroke survivors: I want to see them do what they want to do. Everyone has their goals. All goals are reachable – not necessarily your stroke goals. Everyone has goals deeper than that. If you want something, you can do it. It’s all about if you push yourself to do something you can do it. People don’t understand that anymore.

Fave food: Tony’s Pita Peddler

What is your dream: One of my goals is to be married and have a boy and a girl and have a place in life. I want to own my own security company. I want to forget my stroke ever happened. And I think I’m pretty close to that.

Any other info you want to add: I’d like to run in a race that benefits stroke. I would also like to be part of a stroke support group.

Location: Shelby Township

E-mail: Elrodn6490@gmail.com

Categorised in: Survivor profiles, Survivors