Can a Stroke Lead to Your Best Health Ever?

After surviving a stroke in July 2023, Manny completely transformed his life—losing 80 pounds, giving up alcohol, and embracing a Mediterranean-style diet. In this inspiring conversation, he shares how lifestyle changes, family support, and adaptive tools have helped him regain independence, improve his health, and rediscover joy in fishing, gardening, and his dream of returning to the grill. Manny emphasizes that your commitment to recovery defines its speed and impact. You are in control of your progress.

Transcript

Speaker: 0:08

Opinions shared by the guests of the show are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the hosts bindwaves or the Brain Injury Network. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and it's not a substitute for professional medical advice, the diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Thank you.

Carrie: 0:35

Hi, I'm Carrie, a stroke survivor and a member of BIND.

Brittany: 0:39

And I'm Brittany. I'm a TBI survivor and a member of BIND. Today we will meet with Manuel Durate Jr. Or Manny, who made a massive lifestyle change. He went from 278 pounds to 198 pounds after his stroke on July 19th. 2023. Let's hear how he did it. And welcome, Manny.

manny-duarte: 1:02

Thank you for having me. Welcome.

Brittany: 1:04

Thank you. Thank you.

manny-duarte: 1:06

So it, it all started, you know, with, uh, my whole lifestyle, it was, uh, not doing right as far as eating. Uh, I ate a lot of red meat and fried foods. Uh, I also had a big problem with drinking and then I wasn't taking care of myself by taking the medication that my doctor prescribed me. I would wait a week or two before an appointment to start taking my blood pressure medication so it would be okay by the time I go see him. So after the stroke, I stayed away from red meat, no fried food. I really. Hit more like a Mediterranean style diet. Uh, as far as exercising well, I was only able to do so much because I lost on my side, left side, my use of my right, left, uh, left arm and leg. So it really all came down to eating right. I learned how to, uh. Eat moderate with moderation because before the stroke it was, I'd get full, but I wasn't full. To me it wasn't full until I felt I fooled up to my neck.

Carrie: 2:35

I understand. So now

manny-duarte: 2:37

I understand that my body tells you when you're full and I learned how to listen to my body.

Carrie: 2:44

Okay.

manny-duarte: 2:44

Uh, also. I stopped drinking. Well, it was something that my doctor told me at first to stop doing. I mean, he does allow me now one drink, but I choose not to do it because I'm okay with not having to drink. Uh, I enjoy mocktails, even a non-alcoholic beer, just for the taste of it, but it was definitely hard. Uh, letting go of red meat. I'm a guy that loves to barbecue. Well, used to barbecue haven't barbecue since the stroke, but I plan on getting back to do it. Was it easy? No, it was very hard.

Carrie: 3:37

Okay.

manny-duarte: 3:37

Being around other survivors when I was at, at inpatient care, at Neuro Restorative in Houston. Everybody was eating whatever they wanted to and their family, bringing them whatever they wanted to eat. But I was more stuck on a more strict diet,

Carrie: 3:56

so manie. But

manny-duarte: 3:57

I started to like to see the changes going on in my, in my body and my health feeling better. So after I was discharged from, from inpatient care, I had, uh. Rehab without walls to come in and help me. I had a nutritionist who really helped me a lot. I learned how to read the nutrition facts on the boxes and packages at the grocery store, which made a big difference. My A1C level when I had the stroke was at a 13, which is very high for diabetic. I am at a 5.1 now, so I'm pretty close to hopefully my doctor's saying, I don't need dia, I don't need, uh, Metformin anymore. So that in itself keeps me wanting to keep eating and doing things right.

Carrie: 4:55

That's really good. I'm gonna back up just a minute. Um, let's, can we talk a little bit more, um, what kind of stroke did you have? I know you said you were affected on the left side. I was affected on the left side too. Did you, do you know, did you have a hemorrhagic or a Um, I had a

manny-duarte: 5:09

ischemic. I had a right MCA ischemic stroke.

Carrie: 5:13

Okay. Okay. So, and I guess, you know, I know you said, we talked about you had a heart attack too, was your, your heart attack was before your stroke. All right.

manny-duarte: 5:21

Yes. I had a heart attack in 2017.

Carrie: 5:24

Okay.

manny-duarte: 5:24

And it was crazy because I had started a diet with my, uh, uh, a nutritionist, and, uh, my brother and I were doing it together. I got down to 2 25. So at that point, I was in my best weight out of my adulthood life. And then I had a str, I had the heart attack. So after that. After the, after the heart attack, my thought changed to like, why eat right? Why do the things right? If I'm still gonna have a heart attack? I'm like, be jolly and happy. Eat whatever you want, buddy. You good. What? Well, doing that, I put myself in the situation that I'm in now, but you know, I can sit here and complain all about it, but. The silver, silver lining of this is I went from 2 78 to 1 98 and I feel much better. I don't get as tired as fast as I used to, not because of the weight. Now, I get tired more now because of the stroke that I had, which is a physical tiredness and also mental fatigue as well, which is totally different. But I enjoy doing things more than I used to. Everything's harder to do, but I still enjoy it. Mm.

Brittany: 6:45

Alright. So you just talked about, um, physical and mental fatigue after your stroke. Was there any more challenges that you had to overcome after your stroke?

manny-duarte: 6:54

Oh, definitely. Just the fact of not being able to walk at first, the fact that I had to have somebody turn on the lights for me, turn off the lights, gave me, help me get outta bed in bed, had to help me go to the restroom. Shower, all those things that a person can do. Before, you know, prior to having a stroke, I had to depend on somebody to do it. Now there's still a few things that I depend on people to do for me. One being the driving part, I can't drive. I did lose a little bit of my vision on my left side, especially the peripheral view. Mm-hmm. Like I can only see so far on my peripheral view, but. I kind of enjoy people driving me around.

Carrie: 7:42

That's good. And my, um, my stroke was similar to yours. I was completely paralyzed on the left side as well. My arm doesn't quite work like it should either. So that's why you saw I had to have Jessica help put my headphones on.

manny-duarte: 7:55

Yes. Um,

Carrie: 7:56

do and I wear an AFO on my ankle. Do you have to wear an AFO?

manny-duarte: 8:00

Yes, I do. Okay.

Carrie: 8:01

But are you walking now?

manny-duarte: 8:03

Yes, I'm walking now. But let me just go a little story on the AFO. Hm. So I had started developing a calus on the side of my foot. So I went to podiatrist. Well, he thought he was gonna be helpful and he cut a hole in my AFO. Wow. So I went to Hanger, the company that does my AFO Sure. To see if they could fix it. Well, come to find out the doctor doing that voided my warranty.

Brittany: 8:29

Mm-hmm. Ooh,

manny-duarte: 8:31

yes. So I had to wait on a new, a new AFO to be made. Which it took about a month and a half.

Carrie: 8:37

Yeah.

manny-duarte: 8:38

And now I've been fighting almost another month trying to get it right, because it still bothers my foot.

Carrie: 8:44

Yeah. They're, and I

manny-duarte: 8:45

have missed, I have missed over two months of therapy for not being able to walk. Oh, I'm sorry.

Carrie: 8:50

Yeah. AFOs are hard. I, um, I found my, I had to go to a podiatrist as well, because my foot completely rolls. And my toes, I have found that I've got, I get calluses or they're not calluses. I don't know what they are. They called'em on my toe. And so it hurts. But because Sure, you know, the stroke and the nerves, I can't, I don't really know what hurts. I just know something hurts. So I go in there and he is like, oh yeah, we've got cut this growth off your toe. Mm-hmm. And we've done that. But he was, when the first time I went to see him, he actually recommended me to a different, um, prosthetic company. Prosthetic. Did I say that right? Yeah, I think I did. But yeah, it didn't sound right in my head to a different company, um, other than Hangar that's local to DFW that I really like. Um, I really like these and that it's done a lot better, so I like it. But yeah, people don't think about all the extra issues with a AFO Yeah,

Brittany: 9:45

definitely. I

Carrie: 9:45

hate that the, the podiatrist should have known you can't mess with equipment. You

Brittany: 9:50

know

Carrie: 9:50

That's true. So I'm sorry to hear that. That's no fun.

Brittany: 9:53

Especially

manny-duarte: 9:53

when it's not your own equipment thing. So even now I'm having to go see a care wound doctor to care for that wound on my foot.

Carrie: 10:00

Ooh. And which is now getting

manny-duarte: 10:02

better.

Carrie: 10:03

Oh, good. I'm glad it's getting better. Yeah. And, um, hopefully you're, but you're still getting some therapy. Hopefully they can come in and they're still working with you. Um, well,

manny-duarte: 10:12

no. Um, I got discharged from Rehab Without Walls. Okay.

Carrie: 10:16

So

manny-duarte: 10:16

I was doing outpatient at Methodist here in Houston. And I stopped going because they suggested I not walk on the foot the way it was. Sure.

Brittany: 10:26

Yeah.

manny-duarte: 10:27

And now that I'm seeing a care wound doctor, A wound care doctor, sorry.

Brittany: 10:32

It's okay. She wants

manny-duarte: 10:33

me to walk'cause she wants to see how much the AFO is actually affecting my foot. Yeah.

Brittany: 10:36

Mm-hmm.

manny-duarte: 10:38

Which I'll have an appointment with her tomorrow to see the progress of the wound care that she did for me last Friday.

Brittany: 10:44

Yeah. AFOs are not fun. Not fun because with my afo not, and they're heavy. Yes. And hot. I had a full black AFO, I'm not an AFO anymore. I kind of got better and I graduated to A A SO, which is a ankle, um, stabilizer instead of a ankle foot orthotic. But with my orthotic, my bone actually start popping out. And it was weird'cause like it just like had a lump on my foot and it's like actually my bone, it wasn't a callous or anything. They touched it. It was my bone. But I guess since I graduated, it kind of like neutralized though. But I still have problems with my foot. I had my AFO because of foot drop,'cause of my brain injury. So foot drop is

manny-duarte: 11:21

hard.

Carrie: 11:22

Yep. Mine was a combination of the foot drop and the rolled foot. Mm-hmm. Yes. It's hard to walk if you can't put your foot flat.

manny-duarte: 11:29

Yeah. So the other thing that I have to deal with. Yes, on my left foot a long time ago, like in the early nineties, I had a surgery, so I have a screw in my left foot.

Carrie: 11:42

Oh.

manny-duarte: 11:42

Which the doctors, the doctors thought that the screw was backing out and that was a problem getting me a, me getting a calus there. But it wasn't that, it was just the a o uh, my foot rubbing against the afo.

Carrie: 11:55

Yeah, they're, it's a lot of fun stuff. Um, but. So, um, I wanna, now let's go back and talk a little bit about you. I mean, I was the same as you before my stroke. When it came to the medication. Like about a year before my stroke, my doctor said, oh, I'm 37, or I was 37. I wish I was 37. I was 37 at the time. And my doctor was like, oh, you have slight high blood pressure. And I'm like, okay. 37, slight and high blood pressure, no big deal. So yeah, I would take, still young, I would take a pill and I'd be like, you know, you don't, and then like a week would go by and I'd be like, oh, I should probably take another pill. I, you're supposed to take'em daily. Uh, and then, you know, about a month later, I had my stroke and then it, it took years to get my blood pressure under control with the right medication. So yeah, if you're listening. And you don't think you have any issues, but you might have high blood pressure, please take your medicines like you're supposed to take'em. Yeah, for sure. I take a me, I'm not doctor, but I play one on a podcast.

manny-duarte: 13:04

It's easier to take medication than it is to deal with a stroke.

Carrie: 13:06

Absolutely. I agree with you. I mean, I take more medications now. Than I did if I would've just taken what I was supposed to take.

manny-duarte: 13:14

That's right. Yeah, you are right.

Carrie: 13:16

So I feel you on that. But

manny-duarte: 13:18

just my morning meds is seven pills. Yeah, mine's something

Carrie: 13:21

like that. Now I, but I wanna go back. You just, you made the decision on your own to change. You're eating. Yes. It wasn't the doctor. I mean, the doctors all tell us to eat healthy today. Now, I, I am very proud of you and I also think you're a little crazy.'cause I'm sorry, I am not giving up my meat and potatoes. You're not, I am not giving up my red meat Uhuh.

manny-duarte: 13:42

So what I do is I have it once a month.

Carrie: 13:45

Okay.

manny-duarte: 13:46

And I'll think about what I want. Do I want a burger or do I want a steak or tacos? What do I want?

Carrie: 13:54

Okay.

manny-duarte: 13:54

And then when I decide my family will take me wherever I want to go and I have my beef for that month. For that, for that month,

Carrie: 14:01

well, that's one way to do it. So, so what do you, I mean, you said Mediterranean style, but help me, like, so what do you eat? What? What all do you eat that?

manny-duarte: 14:13

So I eat. Like my wife makes ground Turkey.

Carrie: 14:17

Okay.

manny-duarte: 14:18

And my daughter does too. She, my wife and my daughter takes turn cooking here for us. So we'll have ground Turkey, we'll have salmon, we'll have tilapia chicken, of course.

Carrie: 14:35

See you always, people always lose me when they start talking about fish. I'm not, I'm not a fish eater, but it's a texture thing for me. I'm mm-hmm. So I, I don't know. And so I

manny-duarte: 14:44

used to, I used to be a big fisher and I used to fish before the stroke, so eating fish was perfect for me.

Carrie: 14:56

That's good that, that's helpful for changing your lifestyle for food. Mm-hmm. Because yeah, fish is supposed to be really good for you. Yeah.

Brittany: 15:04

Okay. So then what resources have you found especially helpful in your journey, both physical and mental?

manny-duarte: 15:14

So for me. Being involved in, uh, like Zoom call groups. Like we have what we have two with, uh, we have Without Walls. We have the, uh, BIBC, which is Brain Injury Virtual Connect Group.

Carrie: 15:36

Yeah, I was trying to think of that. And on Friday we

manny-duarte: 15:37

have coffee chat and I think, uh, well no, on Saturday we have a peer party. Peer party chat.

Carrie: 15:45

Yeah, we, and

manny-duarte: 15:46

then of course I joined, I joined Jess's chats that she has the once a month and she has two different ones that I join. And I love those. Those help me out a lot.

Carrie: 15:59

Oh yeah. We're, I keep meaning to join Jess's. I, I'm bad. I like, I get all the emails from Veronica all the chats. Mm-hmm. But I kinda am doing so much, I'm usually doing something else at the time. We've had Veronica on the podcast, so we, we are familiar with all those. And anyway, I keep telling Jess I'm gonna go to hers. You were on it once and yeah, I was on it once, but, um, I'm not, I'm not good. I, I do this, this is enough camera time for me. I'm just kidding. Um, but, um, mm,

manny-duarte: 16:32

also the biggest help that I had during my recovery, especially on the diet part. With my family, my wife and my daughter and my son helped me out making sure that I wasn't doing the wrong things and making sure I was eating properly, which at first, I mean, I was, I mean, I didn't wanna hear it, but you know what? I did wanna make a change because I told myself if I ever have another stroke or heart attack, it's not gonna be because of me. It's gonna be because something outta my hands. I'm not gonna be the cause to put any more pain and suffering on my family.

Carrie: 17:08

Oh, that's a good way to look at it. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Brittany: 17:09

Very, very positive outlook. So after you said that, what's next in your journey?

manny-duarte: 17:17

Next in my journey? Mm-hmm. Is to, uh, get back to, uh, my barbecue pit. I do fishing again now, but hopefully eventually. I get enough movement on my left leg that I can get back on my bicycle. It's all riding my bike again and just keep enjoying life.

Carrie: 17:42

Yeah. Do you have a, a regular bike or a recumbent bike?

manny-duarte: 17:45

to be honest I'm not always this happy all the time? No, there is sometimes that I have hard times, certain times that I deal with different things in my, in my brain just keeps putting stuff in my head and just fighting with it. But. Then I find a moment that I just chill, relax, and enjoy life.

Carrie: 18:06

Yeah, that's good. Um, mental fatigue is a hard one. Um, so yeah, I can imagine that fishing helps a lot with that mental fatigue to get out somewhere. Oh, yes, definitely does. Nice and quiet and peaceful and just one with nature. I wish we had something closer around here that I could go do on my own, and I don't know, do you have issues? Fishing. I'm curious now, do they make adaptive fishing equipment?

manny-duarte: 18:31

I have a, I use a, uh, adaptive rod reel holder. Okay. And, uh, which makes it a whole lot easier for me, which it was suggested to me by my recreational therapist from Rehab without Walls. So we got it. And, uh, I've gone fishing several times.

Carrie: 18:50

Yeah. It's amazing. I you think little, like, I just thought about that when you were talking about fishing. I was like, and I know you've got issues with your left hand. So I was like. That. How do you fish one handed? Because like, I've tried to putt putt one handed, it's kind of fun. Or bowl, you know, I refuse to use that little bowling thing to slide the ball down.

manny-duarte: 19:09

Yeah, I use that little bowling ball. I

Carrie: 19:10

don't wanna do it. I'm, I'm too stubborn. I'm, I'm gonna get the lightest weight ball and I'm gonna throw it and I'm gonna do it. But the problem with that is it's so lightweight and I can't throw hard enough by the time it actually finally breaches the pins. It's going so slow it's gonna stop. It just kind of barely hits, so it doesn't knock over very many pins. But I, I like that idea. There's, I have been to different resource fairs for, you know, for the disabled and things and there, and people don't think about, there are so many different activities that we can do for adaptive. Like,

manny-duarte: 19:47

another activity that I like to do is gardening. Ooh, yeah. Gardening. Have a raised bed garden in the backyard. In my patio, I got jalapeno peppers. Serranos, I had cilantro, but it bolted already. Oh. And I also had onions, which they didn't make it Texas heat, but gardening is very soothing.

Carrie: 20:10

Yeah, I've heard that too. Mm-hmm. Again, eh. Yeah, I know. I mean, but yeah, there, it's great to know that there are so many different idea things that we can do to make adapt, like we have a raised. Garden here at the clubhouse. Yeah. So, and we try to grow some vegetables, but you know, Texas, it's so hard to maintain a proper garden.'cause you know, the weather is so bipolar. Yeah.

Brittany: 20:35

And the zoning too.

Carrie: 20:36

Yeah. It does make it interesting. All righty. So,

manny-duarte: 20:42

um, also, the one thing I like to say is whoever's listening, don't ever give up on yourself. You are the only one that can stop you. Whatever anybody else tells you shouldn't matter to you. You are the only one, one that controls your progress. I 100% agree with you. Depends on what you put in. That's how much you get out of it.

Brittany: 21:01

Mm-hmm.

Carrie: 21:02

Yep.

Brittany: 21:03

I had a question. So you're talking about adaptive like items, like what other adaptive items do you have that you use? Like for instance, you have like a fishing rod, and then for the bike you have an adaptive bike.

manny-duarte: 21:20

No, not yet. I haven't got back on a bike yet.

Brittany: 21:22

Okay.

manny-duarte: 21:23

I wanna get a recumbent bike, but not yet. Yeah. Do you? Um, I have too too much spasticity on my left leg. I do have a baclofen pump. Okay. That's supposed to be helping me, but it hasn't got to that level yet.

Carrie: 21:38

Sure. Now, and again, Brittany's talking about adaptive, so now my brain's thinking. I'm wondering, I know you said you wanna get back to grilling. I'm wondering. If there's, I mean, because I know there's all kinds of adaptive tools for the kitchen.

manny-duarte: 21:52

The only thing that's holding me from going back to grilling is this. They going AFO.

Carrie: 21:56

Okay. But that's why I was gonna say, do do think you're

manny-duarte: 21:59

in too much? I can't stand too long.

Carrie: 22:00

Right. But I'm thinking, are you gonna need any extra equipment to help you with the grill? Like

manny-duarte: 22:06

no flipping or No? You talking to one of my other buddies who's also a stroke survivor and he's a barbecue guy and he just tells me to. Have everything closed right there where you're at, set a table up with everything. He has a buggy that he pulls everything out there at one time and, uh, just barbecues at, at one time. He has nothing, nothing at, at, uh, access. I mean, not, uh, adaptive.

Carrie: 22:35

Okay. Uh, yeah. Wasn't sure what you might need, just

manny-duarte: 22:39

the fatigue part of it.

Carrie: 22:41

Yeah. Right. And that, that, I think honestly, Manny, I would say with that. Um, how long ago was your stroke? Your stroke? It is gone

manny-duarte: 22:51

on through, I'm going on three years. Yeah.

Carrie: 22:52

So I'm gonna tell you that just comes with time. Like my stroke was 16 years ago. I still get fatigue, but I don't get it as bad as I used to. Like I used to always, every day I needed a nap. Now, you know, I couldn't take a nap if I wanted to. I try to sit still. And it doesn't work for me, you know? Now I may go to bed early sometimes, but, but I'll tell you, the fatigue level will come. That again, is just something you gotta train your body to work on. That over time we get there. Um, but again, I've been doing it a lot longer than you, so hopefully you get to do it this long. I think for me,

manny-duarte: 23:26

with the barbecue pit, because I use a, uh, what do you call it, a pellet grill so I don't have to light nothing up. So it's the automatic, I just turn the switch. And it lights up.

Carrie: 23:40

That's awesome. Well, so next time we come to Houston, we're gonna come have barbecue with you. Yes. Yep. You can have fish. And I'm having red meat though. Sorry. Can you cook me red meat, even if you're not eating it?

Brittany: 23:50

Yes, steak. I'm cooking red meat.

Carrie: 23:52

Okay. Awesome. Well, Manny, I wanna thank you so much for joining us today. Taking time out of your day to share your story with us and our listeners so that we can get to know a little bit about you and have. Some encouraging words for future survivors. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yes. I

manny-duarte: 24:07

want to thank y'all for having me and Jess for the invitation.

Carrie: 24:10

All righty. She says you're welcome.

Brittany: 24:13

Um, and then if you would like to contact us, you can email us at Bindwaves@thebind.org Follow us on Instagram at Bindwaves and visit our website, thebind.org/bindwaves

Carrie: 24:27

And don't forget to hit the like button, the share button, the notify button. I read all the good buttons, especially notify on YouTube so you can again, yes, for sure. If you wanna watch us, you can watch us on YouTube.

manny-duarte: 24:37

I'm already following y'all

Carrie: 24:38

and Oh, awesome, Manny. That's great. Thank you for following us. Um, just continue liking and if you have ideas, let us know. We're happy to share and go from there.

Brittany: 24:47

Yep, and you can find all our episodes on all your favorite platforms. Until next time.

Carrie: 24:53

Until next time.

manny-duarte: 24:54

Thank you guys. Thanks,

Carrie: 24:55

Manny. Thank you.

manny-duarte: 24:56

Have a blessed day.

Carrie: 24:57

You too. Bye.

Speaker 3: 24:59

We hope you've enjoyed listening to BIND Waves and continue to support BIND in our nonprofit mission. We support brain injury survivors as they reconnect into the life, the community, and their workplace, and we couldn't do that without great listeners like you. We appreciate each and every one of you. Continue watching. Until next time. Until next time.