Many Rewards on the Road Back
	For 47 years Mary Bolden sang as a member of the Evergreen Baptist Church, singing every Sunday on a local radio show. For 23 years she taught sewing classes at Oakland’s Merritt College and made wedding dresses for brides-to-be in her spare time.

All this, however, came to end when Mary, age 69, had a stroke in September, 1991. She couldn't speak, read or write, much less do the things she loved most, like sewing and singing. “My doctor had given me 72 hours to live,” said Mary, an Aphasia Center regular, who has been attending a conversation group since the Center began, “but I made it through with prayers.”

Prayers and determination. After a lengthy rehabilitation, Mary recovered much of her lost language skills, only to suffer a second stroke in 1995. Again, she didn't give up, but admits recovery wasn't easy. “When I was in the hospital it was hard because I couldn't do anything. But after I got a little better I would help the other patients get up and do exercises--that kind of thing--I would tell them they were going to make it.”

It was during rehabilitation that Mary began to sew again--this time using her left hand. “I started with easy things like place settings. Now I make everything I want--pants, jackets... People keep asking me, `When are you going to start sewing for other people again?’”

She tells of one particularly tough assignment--37 dresses for a single wedding. “I needed a little help to finish that one,” she laughs. What's helped her most since her stroke? “Left-handed scissors,” Mary says, smiling. That and the loving support of her family, especially her daughter Reeda and brother Paul. “She and Paul brought me through. They helped me so much.”

Mary also credits the Aphasia Center with helping improve her language skills. “Here we have conversations and that's really helpful,” said Mary. Being able to write again was particularly important to her. She saw it as a measure of her independence. “I couldn't write my checks, or do any kind of writing. I couldn't use my right hand. Ellen taught me how to write, how to sign my checks again.”

There is mutual appreciation between Mary and Ellen Bernstein-Ellis, the speech pathologist who worked with her when she first came to the Aphasia Center. "Mary's gift is that she recognizes the value of reaching out to people and helping them in whatever way she can," says Ellen. "She values each person at the Aphasia Center for their individual gifts and abilities. She is the definition of a 'people person.'"

Like many people with aphasia, Mary feels at ease knowing she can be herself when she's at the Center. "The Aphasia Center has provided Mary with a community in which she can be who she likes to be--someone who helps someone else," says Ellen.

Her advice for other people with aphasia: “Donut give up. You can do it. I was always talking about what I wanted to do and now I'm doing all kinds of things: cooking, sewing, and I'm loving it.”