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Stroke Survivors of the Month - July/August

Eugene and Earl Pendarvis
(Gene left, Earl right)
Mt. Vernon, NY and Bronx, NY

Eugene and Earl are identical twins. Gene was a newlywed and a substance abuse counselor in Jamaica Queens, NY and Earl was a detective for CVS in New York City. Gene had a stroke on February 6, 2004. Earl made the statement that he wished he could “trade places” with Gene. Earl had a stroke only two months later, April 13, 2004. Their story is an unusual one.

Gene says:

"I was taking the train on my way to work that morning. It was snowing. All of a sudden I couldn’t see out of the left side. I knew I was having a stroke. I started losing the feeling in my left side. I called my wife and told her I had a TIA. She told me to go to Grand Central to the information counter and tell them to call EMS, which they did. They came and took my vital signs and told me to relax. They put me in the back of the ambulance going to the hospital to be examined. I was fully conscious through the whole event.

Once I got to the hospital, they said I’d had a stroke and that it didn’t look good. They didn’t think I was going to survive. They wanted to operate on my head and operate on my brain. My wife said, “No.” And the Lord healed me.

I thank God that I’m here today to tell you this story. It’s not a pleasant story, but I’m coming back. I’m working very hard every day – physical therapy two times a day. I’m working to get the strength back in my body. I can’t walk yet but I’m trying to walk. My brother is walking but his voice hasn’t come back yet. It affected his speech. It didn’t affect my speech. It affected the left side of my body.