How life's challenges opened a new door for a Mount Prospect attorney

Robert Meersman never dreamed of becoming an artist, though he was always good at drawing. He was much too busy to pursue such leisurely activities as he raised four daughters with his wife Marilyn in Mount Prospect.

By 1986, the one-time electrician had already enjoyed nearly 30 years as an attorney and welcomed two of his daughters into his law firm, all while rooting on his beloved DePaul basketball and White Sox teams. But when he suffered a massive stroke, more than 20 years ago at age 57, his world changed.

The strong, highly respected attorney, who had lost his wife to breast cancer just three years before, beat physicians' bleak prognosis and a 28-day coma, but he struggled to overcome the residual effects of his stroke: aphasia.

Aphasia is a communication disorder sometimes brought on by stroke, impairing a person's ability to process language. Of the 5.7 million stroke survivors in the United States, one in six develops aphasia, the National Aphasia Association estimates. Affecting as many as one in 250 people, aphasia is more common than Parkinson's disease, cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy.

The condition does not affect intelligence, but rather leaves people unable to speak, sometimes unable to read or write and often unable to understand others.

"Bob has expressive aphasia, meaning that he can absolutely understands what is coming in, but he struggles with getting words and thoughts across to others," explained Edythe Hirasawa, manager of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital's Adult Day Care program in Des Plaines. "He is very alert mentally, very with-it, so it becomes very frustrating for him when he can't express himself."

Depression and stroke can go hand in hand, Hirasawa said. For someone who has lost speech, however, depression and loss of identity and self esteem are sure byproducts. But today Meersman has overcome such challenges, expressing himself at times haltingly in words, but stroke by stroke with his paintings, done with his nondominant left hand.

Meersman didn't take to his new hobby eagerly. While he didn't need 24-hour nursing care after his stroke, Meersman was unable to remain at home alone.

When his family discovered the Des Plaines-based day care program, they considered it a godsend.

But Meersman didn't share their enthusiasm.

He dealt with grief, anger and frustration in not being able to return to life as before.

"I just wanted to go back to my office, but they told me, 'You're stuck,'" Meersman recalled.

"He was quite resistant to anything," recalled his daughter Maureen, an attorney and mother of three in Mount Prospect with whom he lives. "But we don't take no for an answer. We've pushed him, sometimes past the point where he wants to go."

Clearly, Meersman's resistance was no match for his four daughters' commitment to keep him engaged in life, with help from Gwynne Chovanec, director of Lutheran General's Older Adult Services. A water stain on a ceiling tile in the day center's lounge provided additional motivation.

With Chovanec's help, Meersman created a butterfly to cover the ceiling tile water stain. One tile led to another and soon the lounge ceiling was adorned with paintings of animals.

Now hailed as the center's resident artist, Meersman has had two of his drawings selected for the hospital's holiday cards.

But perhaps his artistic crowning glory is the ceiling in the center's corridor.

John Wayne, Charlie Chaplin, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland and Toto, Roy Rogers, Laurel and Hardy and soon Audrey Hepburn look down on visitors. Partnering with Chovanec, who freehands the drawings, Meersman turns the outlines into vibrant acrylic paintings, transforming Lutheran General's Family Care Center building into a veritable Hollywood Ceiling of Fame.

The building houses the adult day center, along with Older Adult Services, children's day care and the hospital's outpatient rehabilitation facility.

"My dad was always a really good artist when we were kids but he never had time to explore it. But now he does and, God love him, with his left hand, too," Maureen Meersman said.

Overcoming resistance to his changed life, being open and eager to learn new skills -- he has attended oil painting classes through the Arlington Heights Park District senior center for at least 17 years -- Meersman has become a powerful lesson for his four daughters and 12 grandchildren.

"When I was younger I think my dad tried to instill inuscompassion and gratitude

and to be honorable," recalled his daughter. "Since his stroke, he's shown us all how much inner strength a person can have despite a lot of personal limitations. We've all learned to be a lot more accepting of things that aren't considered normal and that can't be changed. His grandkids are much more accepting about people with disabilities, people who look and are different, who may be in a wheelchair, 'cause hey, that's grandpa."