This professional Santa's dream of spreading holiday cheer fuels stroke recovery

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When Brent Rasmussen mislaid his equilibrium aboriginal 1 greeting successful December 2023, helium knew thing was earnestly wrong.

"All that went done my caput was 'Oh, this is gonna beryllium bad," Rasmussen, present 79, told CBS News. "Everything started to spin. I grabbed the partition and my look slid down the wall. I could spot the level coming."

Rasmussen deed his look hard connected the floor. Blood was pouring retired of his nose, but helium couldn't basal oregon telephone for help. It took astir an hr for his canine to find him and commencement barking, alerting his wife. Tenesa Rasmussen called 911 and paramedics brought him to an country hospital. His information was misdiagnosed astatine first. Only 19 hours aboriginal did doctors recognize helium was having a monolithic cerebellar stroke.

Cerebellar strokes impact the cerebellum, which controls a person's question and balance, according to the Cleveland Clinic's website. The near broadside of Rasmussen's cerebellum was blocked by a clot. The hold successful diagnosis meant helium couldn't person clot-busting medication. He needed encephalon country to region fractional his cerebellum. When Rasmussen woke, helium couldn't swallow, locomotion oregon talk.

Rasmussen began carnal therapy arsenic soon arsenic helium was able, but was frustrated by his progress. In March 2024, helium sought attraction astatine UT Southwestern Medical Center's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. They asked him to acceptable a goal. He had a astonishing answer.

"I said 'I privation to get my ho ho ho back,'" Rasmussen said. "I said, 'I person to beryllium Santa Claus again.'"

Becoming Santa Claus

In 1998, Rasmussen's Dallas institution asked him to formal up arsenic Santa for their vacation party. He agreed and recovered a astonishing caller passion. The adjacent year, radical asked if helium could look astatine different events. Soon, Rasmussen was booking aggregate appearances a twelvemonth arsenic Santa Claus. After a fewer years, Tenesa made them elaborate costumes, implicit with handmade embroidery and customized buttons.

Even aft the mates retired, appearances arsenic Santa and Mrs. Claus continued to predominate their vacation season. In 2023, the mates was celebrating 25 years of bringing vacation cheer.

"The joyousness that comes from visiting with the kids, it's just, you can't explicate it," Rasmussen said.

After Rasmussen's stroke, helium feared helium mightiness ne'er beryllium Santa again. His betterment was slow. After 3 months, helium was inactive babelike connected a walker and a feeding tube. He had mislaid 45 pounds and didn't person his Santa belly. He needed assistance with mundane tasks and struggled with vertigo. He could hardly speak, fto unsocial bash his heavy Santa voice. Meeting with kids was retired of the question.

"I was upset that this had happened to me," Rasmussen said. "I wanted to beryllium capable to bash each the things I had ever done. I worked hard my full life, and present I couldn't adjacent spell retired and bash the simplest project. If I got down connected the floor, my caput would commencement to rotation and I couldn't retrieve adjacent wherefore I was connected the floor."

"The culmination of each our efforts"

After Rasmussen came to UT Southwestern and declared his extremity to go Santa again, unit carnal therapist Dr. Egle Richards and the facility's rehabilitative squad made a plan. He would person carnal therapy to assistance with his spot and equilibrium issues. Occupational therapy would people his good centrifugal skills and dexterity. A code therapist would assistance him larn however to speech and swallow again.

The advancement was slow. At times, Rasmusse's woman said helium would turn frustrated.

"He would say, 'Why does everything person to beryllium truthful hard?' Just getting up, conscionable getting dressed, was conscionable indescribably difficult, but helium kept astatine it due to the fact that helium wanted to beryllium Santa," Tenesa recalled. "That is what pushed him to bash the hard work, to bash the exercises, to support trying."

After 7 months of moving with Richards and the remainder of the rehabilitative team, Rasmussen's advancement was obvious. By precocious October 2024, helium was capable to get disconnected the feeding conduit and could locomotion connected his own. He regrew his beard. He learned however to task his dependable again. His endurance grew.

While helium wasn't capable to bash a afloat slate of Santa events that December, helium was capable to marque a astonishment in-character quality astatine UT Southwestern's vacation party.

"It was specified a fantastic astonishment and conscionable truly benignant of the culmination of each our efforts here," Richards said.

"The days get longer"

This vacation season, the Rasmussens were capable to publication a afloat slate of events — adjacent aggregate events a day, thing that would person been unthinkable past year. Getting dressed and traveling to events takes a small longer, but erstwhile kids commencement lining up, "the adrenaline kicks in," Rasmussen said.

He's definite to inquire what each kid wants for Christmas and fto them cognize they're connected the bully list. His apical precedence is making definite each kid has a "magical moment" with Santa. If his dependable wobbles, helium remembers his vocal therapy lessons.

"It's a delicate balance, but it's perfectly wonderful," Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen hopes his travel tin assistance supply anticipation to different changeable survivors.

"If you don't person a goal, you get up and get dressed each time and you're truthful exhausted by the extremity of that, each you privation to bash is conscionable autumn backmost connected the furniture and snuggle backmost into the warmth nether the broad and telephone it a day. But it gets better," Rasmussen said. "Slowly, the days get longer and you're doing more, and you're feeling truthful blessed with yourself for the progress. These are conscionable the experiences you have. You clasp them and determination guardant and drawback it, due to the fact that beingness is not over."

Edited by Lucia I Suarez Sang

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