Greg Fulkerson

Last Wednesday, Greg suffered a serious stroke. While up at Northhome, Greg  began to feel weak and losing the feeling in his right side.  After driving to Deer River Hospital, it was determined that he needed to be transferred to St. Mary's Essentia Hospital in Duluth via helicopter.  Rachel, Mike, and Kelley drove up to Duluth that night to be with Greg and Cindy.   He was placed into the Neuro ICU where he was given medications to get the blood pressure down.  He has some numbness (drifting-some terms we wish we never had to know) and paralysis on the right side, involving his arm, leg and speech. The great news is that he has since been transferred to different floors twice since coming to Duluth due to his improvement with his blood pressure and vitals.

The doctor told us that this type of stroke has a very positive prognosis for a near full-to full recovery. Once the swelling and blood in that portion on his brain go down we should start to see some improvement. In fact, I would say he already is showing some very encouraging signs. The great news is that he will be heading down to Abbott Northwestern via medical transportation this Thursday to start the long road back to recovery.  I know many have reached out that you wish to visit him but truth be told he just gets so tired. After an hour visit he is looking to kick us out! That being said visitors will be welcome once he is set up  at the rehab facility and a visit would be just what he needs! We will know more in the coming days as to what the schedule will be in terms of visiting hours and rehab. I'm sure he's getting tired of Mike's corny jokes and Rachel's needling him to eat. Of course, Cindy always the one who lights up his world has been by his side, leaving only to come the cities to grab some items for them both. 

More posts to follow and we will give everyone the information for visiting as soon as we know. One thing we all know about Greg is that he is tough guy and a little pesky brain bleed has nothing on ole' man strong!

With love and gratitude for all the texts, calls, and mostly prayers. 


Kelley