Meet Your Neighbor: Springer races to overcome stroke effects

Anyone seeing Lee Springer run in a 5K or overcome obstacles during a mud run would be hard-pressed to recognize evidence of the strokes he suffered just two years ago.

Several bilateral cerebellar strokes on Oct. 25, 2015, severely affected Springer’s ability to walk and talk. He was 34 years old, and, at the time, doctors told him he could only hope to regain about 30 percent of normal function, and that those improvements could take as much as two years to attain.

That was unacceptable to Springer, who had served eight years in the Navy, serving as a petty officer second class. So with a military mindset and a heart for his wife and children at home, he raised the arm he could move, gave the doctors the middle finger, and let loose an applicable, albeit unintelligible, two-word response. That moment was the eventual inspiration for his creation of a charity that provides race fees, team jerseys and other supplies for stroke survivors who want to enter 5Ks and mud runs.

Before Springer began helping others, the Bellevue resident first had to fight his way to good health. He entered rigorous physical therapy in Indiana, where he pushed himself to small goals that eventually allowed him to talk and walk — and even run — again.

“I owe my ability to walk to the physical therapy team I had. I saw them five or six days a week for six months. They had a lot of patience and pushed me a lot,” Springer said.

Before the stroke, Springer was a medical researcher and professor in Indiana, but the stroke left him unable to fulfill his job duties. He and his wife and children moved back to Bellevue where he could continue to strengthen his health and seek out a new normal with the help of family.

“I had to do a lot of rethinking of my life at age 34. It was probably the scariest time of my life,” he said.

Thanks to the support of his wife and extended family, Springer now works as the Lab Director at The Bellevue Hospital, and he has completed many races. It was through Facebook support groups for young stroke survivors that he began to realize that not everyone has the kind of family support that helped him regain his health.

“I noticed a lot of stroke survivors under the age of 40 were trying to figure out how to get back to being active,” he said.

Some of them showed interest in running races, but mounting medical bills left then unable to pay race registration fees, or they didn’t have someone to assist them at the race.

 “I started seeing this more and more, and I thought there’s got to be a way,” Springer said. “There’s not a lot of help for people once they reach their recovery point. It just drops off.”

Springer decided to pick up where that help left off. Through his charity, Springer guides stroke victims through the race registration process and covers their race fees. He created a GoFundMe page on Oct. 17 and has been gathering donations from organizations and individuals. He is working on building a network of support that will help eliminate some of the obstacles that keep stroke victims out of races.  

“I was lucky. I had support. I pushed through this thing, but some people might just need a little nudge. I want to help them not have an excuse,” he said. “If I can say, 'I can pay that for you,' there is no excuse.”

Springer is seeking 501(c)3 status for his charit , and his goal is to help 65 people next year. Team members will be represented in several races in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan next year, including the LCpl Jeremy Shock Fun/Mudrun in Green Springs in May. For those thinking about racing, he has encouraging advice.

“You know yourself better than anyone. You know what you can do. If you feel you can do it, don’t stop until you do. It may take a short time or a long time — maybe five years — but set goals,” he said. “Take it one piece at a time. Have your overall goal, but there are a lot of pieces. You kind of fill them in as you go.”

Information on gaining support or donating financially can be found at mudderfkstrokes.org. 

Contact correspondent Sheri Trusty at sheritrusty4@gmail.com.