MyConnection JUNE 1, 2016
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Newnan Native Runs New York City Marathon One Year after Stroke BY MAGGIE BOWERS MAGGIE@NEWNAN.COM
Merideth Gilmor, a 39-yearold wife and well-known sports publicist living in Connecticut, recently completed the New York City Marathon. The Newnan-raised mother of one logged the famed 26.2-mile race in just over six hours. But wait, there’s more. If running a marathon for the first time isn’t enough of an accomplishment, Gilmor did it just one year after suffering a stroke. “At one point during my recovery, my son told me that he would know I was completely healed when I was running again,” Gilmor said. She had managed to fit in several miles each day before the stroke, and Colin, now 10, had faith that his mom would return to her previous healthy habits. It happened in November 2014. According to Gilmor, she and husband Mark were attending the wedding of friends in the nearby Berkshire Mountains of Connecticut where the couple had happily danced the night away. The pair finally called it quits near 4 a.m. and headed back to the hotel room. “I told Mark that I was most excited about being able to spend the following day sleeping in and being lazy with
Merideth Gilmor spends time with family just before beginning training for the New York City Marathon. From left, standing: Mark Gilmor, Merideth Gilmor, Steve Fanning, and Colin Gilmor. PHOTOS COURTESY OF MERIDETH GILMOR
Merideth Gilmor completed the New York City Marathon one year af ter suf fering a massive stroke that nearly took her life.
him,” Gilmor recalled. Just as Gilmor was sliding into bed, however, she experienced a strange sensation – “like I was going to sneeze,” she said. Then she fell to the floor. “I couldn’t speak, but I could hear some things,” Gilmor said. “I heard boots in the hallway and I remember my husband saying to the medical technicians that he
thought I might have had a stroke.” Gilmor was rushed via ambulance to the nearest hospital. After a CAT scan, doctors confirmed the likelihood of a stroke. But without a neurosurgeon on staff, they would need to stabilize Gilmor and transfer her to another facility for confirmation and treatment. In the meantime, however, Gilmor’s prognosis did not look good. She was intubated and her body was intentionally dehydrated in an attempt to decrease the inflammation in her brain. Doctors considered removing a piece
Many Groups Cooperate to Create Pilot Apprenticeship GERMAN-STYLE PROGRAM STARTS IN COWETA THIS FALL By W. WINSTON SKINNER winston@newnan.com A German-style apprenticeship – the first in the United States to involve high school students – will start this fall in Coweta County. Eleven students will participate in Coweta’s first year, compared to 1.5 million in Germany. Even so, creating the new program – an opportunity for local students to begin on-the-job training for pay while completing their high school studies – has required the cooperation of many people from different facets of the community. Business leaders, educators and officialdom in both Germany and Georgia have hammered out the details that have made the program possible. The Georgia Consortium of Advanced Technical Training, or GA CATT, was inaugurated Monday at the
Newnan Centre. Eight local industries are involved along with Central Educational Center, a local charter school that already combines traditional high school curriculum with technical training. GA CATT will allow students to begin their apprenticeships in 10th grade with a combination of traditional high school classes, collegelevel manufacturing courses, and apprenticeship modules that will pay $8/hour. By 12th grade, students will spend 80 percent of their day learning at manufacturing sites, earning $12/hour. Participating corporations in the pilot program include Grenzebach, E.G.O. North America, Yamaha, Kason, Yokogawa, Winpak, Chromalloy and Groov-Pin. The idea began four years ago with Martin Pleyer, who heads the local plant for Grenzebach, a German company. He imagined “a real German apprenticeship program.” Pleyer wore another hat
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that helped speed the creation of GA CATT; he also is chairman of the Central Educational Center board. He wanted to get younger high school students connected with real manufacturing. Contact was made with the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern United States. Stefanie Jehlitschka, of the German American Chamber, arranged for Coweta educators to get the apprenticeship curriculum used in Germany – translated into English – as well as the “train the trainer documentation," Pleyer said. Pleyer said he was aware that multiple companies needed to be involved if the apprenticeship program was to be a success, so he contacted David Keller of E.G.O. “He was happy to accept," Pleyer said. Like Pleyer, Keller is familiar with the German approach. Typically, German
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of her skull to allow for the massive swelling. “Doctors told Mark that I was unlikely to make it through the night,” Gilmor said. “They told him to get our son and family to the hospital as quickly as possible to say goodbye.” Physicians sedated Gilmor, essentially inducing a coma. Her husband and family were advised that Gilmor’s stroke was severe and had damaged the right side of her brain; she could die, survive in a persistent vegetative state, emerge paralyzed on her left side, blind or incapable of experiencing emotions.
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partially paralyzed on her left side, with limited use of her left arm and hand and some drooping in her face, Gilmor was able to walk the halls and participate in some physical therapy. After three months recovering at home, Gilmor began to surpass the expectations of doctors and physical therapists. Though she struggled with speech and a few daily tasks like tying her shoes, Gilmor knew the worst was in the past, and it was her little boy that truly inspired her to continue forward. “Colin was really into rock climbing, and he started to ask if I would come with him,” Gilmor recalled. “So I did. I started to use rock climbing with my son as extra physical therapy.” Before long, Gilmor was walking Colin five miles to school each day. By May, a mere seven months after the massive stroke that nearly took her life, Gilmor was running again. It was then that she decided that she would prove to everyone – but most importantly herself – that she was herself again, and she began to train for the New York City Marathon. Throughout her recovery, Gilmor received many messages of support, and when
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Or there could be a miracle. “Mark signed a ‘do not resuscitate’ medical order,” said Gilmor. “He knew I wouldn’t want to live if it meant I was in a vegetative state.” After surviving two full days, Gilmor was transferred by helicopter to Yale-New Haven Hospital. There, a neurosurgeon began to piece together what might have caused such an unexpected and tragic medical crisis to strike a young, fit woman. “It was an ischemic stroke, which means a blood clot cut off the oxygen to a piece of my brain,” explained Gilmor. The clot may have been caused by Gilmor’s frequent air travel or even her use of birth control. “I was also born with a PFO (patent foramen ovale), a tiny hole in my heart that I didn’t even know about until then.” Doctors theorize that a blood clot formed somewhere in Gilmor’s lower body, and then traveled to her heart. The clot passed through the heart’s perforation and continued on to her brain. According to medical professionals, nearly 25 percent of people are born with a PFO in the heart, and most are unaware. Remarkably, after little more than a week at YaleNew Haven, Gilmor was up and moving. Though she was
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