"Right from the get-go my first job was shining shoes. I started when I was nine years old... I worked in the barber shop, I had my own stand." Steve Montez’s long and varied work career was cut short when he had a stroke in 1995 at the age of 57. Today, Steve is able to tell his life story in rich detail, with only occasional word-finding difficulty.

After four years shining shoes and delivering newspapers on the side, Steve began milking cows before and after school, 365 days a year. Following stints as a dishwasher, tow truck driver and cannery worker, Steve started his own floor-covering business when he was 21 years old. When back problems made floor covering difficult, he opened a bar, which he operated for 17 years.

After Steve’s stroke, he redirected his seemingly limitless energy into regaining his lost communication skills. Initially, Steve wasn’t able to speak or understand much of what was said to him -- his reading and writing skills were also impaired. Anxious to move forward with his recovery, Steve asked his speech pathologist to give him three or four pages of homework each night. In the first few months after his stroke, Steve spent two to three hours reading one newspaper article. "I’d read two, three, four words (and say to myself) `What was it I read?’... I’d go back and read it again and again." The hard work paid off -- now Steve can finish an entire sports section in an hour or so.

One of the most difficult things for Steve since his stroke, is the isolation he feels from his old friends. "I don’t know if they don’t come around me because they think it would be too hard on me... I don’t know. I get angry about that, after a while, I think, `that’s their problem.’" Steve has found an outlet for his warm and giving nature at the Aphasia Center. When his insurance-covered individual speech therapy ended six months after his stroke, he asked his speech pathologist, "What do I do? Where do I go? She referred him to the Aphasia Center.

"I look forward to (coming to the Aphasia Center) because I feel like I’m doing something to help myself," Steve said. "These people I meet, some of them need more help than I do," he said, "and if I can help them a little bit I will try anything." Steve has become the unofficial welcoming committee to new group members. He offers coffee, hot chocolate, assistance with wheel chairs and above all, encouragement. "Just be as active as you can. Practice your speech by talking to other people," says Steve. "Get out and talk to neighbors, people at the market, people at the bank -- wherever you go. Just tell them you had a stroke and everybody will be nice to you."