When Peter Simon first began experiencing intermittent pain and numbness in his neck and later, his right arm and leg, he attributed it to spine injuries that had bothered him for years.

A day later, the 58-year-old Manhattan, Ill., man was on his way home after auditioning for a play in Chicago and he could barely lift his leg to step on the brake. The right side of his face felt funny as well, like he'd had too much Novocain at the dentist.

By the time he got home, the symptoms had subsided, so he brushed it off, never saying a word to his wife. When the strange symptoms returned and he finally let her in on what was happening, she quickly called the doctor and then rushed Simon to the hospital. By the time they arrived, Simon could not lift his right arm or leg at all.

Even at this point, Simon never thought for a second he might be having a stroke. His speech hadn't been affected and his memory was intact, but his entire right side was paralyzed.

A week later, when he was finally able to wiggle his toes from his hospital bed, the staff told him he'd need to go to a rehabilitation facility and that if he could, the inpatient unit at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey was the best place to go.

For the next two weeks, Simon's therapists worked hard at getting him moving again -- shuffling down the hall with a walker, placing pegs in a board above his head, doing puzzles back in his room -- all in an effort to get the healthy parts of his brain to pick up the tasks done previously by the parts ravaged by the stroke.

After making considerable progress, Simon continued his therapy on an outpatient basis three days a week at Ingalls Family Care Center in Flossmoor for the next six months. There, he worked on fine-tuning his gait, balance and neurological "re-education" as well as fine motor skills such as writing and gripping.

When Simon had regained enough strength and motion, except for a slight limp and some arm weakness, he decided it was time to get back into his passion of acting in community theater.

Ironically, the role he made his comeback with was that of a stroke victim. In December, he portrayed the ghost of a man who had died of a stroke and had return to Thanksgiving dinner to make amends with his family.

In the audience were three very significant members of the audience vouching for the fact he showed little evidence of his real-life stroke on stage. Simon was thrilled to show his physical therapy assistant, Crystal Novak, and two of her co-workers, just how far he'd come with their help.

Peter Simon

Diagnosis: Simon suffered a stroke last spring. His symptoms included pain in his neck followed by numbness and heaviness of his right arm, leg and face.

According to the American Stroke Association, "a stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood (and oxygen) it needs, so it starts to die."

Treatment: A week after suffering the stroke, Simon was transferred to Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey for two weeks of inpatient rehabilitation care.

Then, he went to Ingalls Family Care Center in Flossmoor for three days a week for six months.

Key Healthcare Professionals: Crystal Novak, physical therapy assistant, and Barb Enns, occupational therapist, worked with Simon at Ingalls Family Care Center in Flossmoor to help Simon regain his mobility.

FYI: To learn more about Ingalls' comprehensive stroke care program, call 1-800-221-2199.