GIVING BACK
RUSTY WALTER EXPERIENCED A DEVASTATING STROKE -AND RESPONDED WITH GREAT COURAGE AND GENEROSITY.
Joseph C. “Rusty” Walter III was at the peak of his life in December 2013. He’d just finished a hunting trip in West Texas and enjoyed a 5-mile run before his flight home to Houston. At 56, he was in top physical shape and, just two months before, received a stellar annual health report.
As he boarded his plane, the pilot – a longtime friend – stopped him. Rusty didn’t look right. They went to a nearby emergency room, where a brain scan confirmed life-altering news: Rusty had suffered a massive stroke. Physicians administered tPA (tissue plasminogen activator), the only FDA-approved treatment for an acute stroke. A helicopter sped him home to Houston Methodist Hospital and Dr. David Chiu, director of the Eddy Scurlock Stroke Center.
“It was a surreal time,” Rusty recalls. The probable cause of the cardioembolic stroke was traced to atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat, and a combination of bad circumstances – high altitude, dehydration and thickening blood that formed a clot in the brain’s right hemisphere. “It could have easily killed me,” Rusty says. “I’m lucky to be alive.”
once came easily. An independent, motivated man, Rusty depends on caregivers to help him with basic tasks. He works at rehabilitation up to 30 hours a week, focusing on dexterity, like picking up corks for a half hour at a time. Improvements come in small increments, but each one counts.
“It’s literally like a lightning strike,” Dr. Chiu says. “The term ‘stroke’ connotes that sudden attack of neurological impairment. A stroke can affect every function of the brain, striking at the heart of what it means to be a human being. It can affect anybody – nobody is exempt.”
oilman and president and CEO of Walter Oil & Gas Corp., Rusty’s life before the stroke was intense, productive and generous. He and his wife Paula devoted much of their time to giving back to Houston institutions through board service, volunteer work and philanthropy. At Houston Methodist, Rusty was board chair for the Houston Methodist Research Institute, where the couple had just committed a challenge gift that launched the
The stroke severely weakened Rusty’s entire left side and his walking. He has spent the last two years working to restore movements that
As a third-generation Houston
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