Despite a stroke, actor and athlete Chris Conlon keeps

running
By Rachel Anne Warren - City Paper - 9:38 PM EST, November 10, 2014

Chris Conlon (Jefferson Jackson Steele / November 10, 2014)

Baltimore, USA, has a community called Ridgelys Delight. This is a historic area with neat
homes.
It was here, in December 2012, that Chris Conlons life changed. He was 38 years old he
worked as a network engineer. He was a keen athlete and had also acted in The Wire,
Veep, and House of Cards. He was recovering from knee surgery.
His day started out like any other day. He ate breakfast and decided to take a walk. A few
steps from his home, Conlon suddenly felt dizzy and fell to the ground.

He woke up a few days later. He was told hed had a blood clot which caused a stroke. The
first person Conlon saw was his mother. She is now his caregiver, Renate Conlon. Hes
lucky. He had so many friends working at the hospital, she says.
He was paralyzed on the right side of his body for three to four weeks. The stroke damaged
30 percent of his brain, says his father, Ron. And as a result of the stroke, he developed
aphasia. The stroke shut down his speech and communication center completely - the rest of
his brain is still working.
His reading, writing, and speaking still stutter at times. Chris struggles to express his
thoughts. Its like I have to do a reach-around to talk, he says.
Its like if you lose your right arm, his mother says. You have to retrain your left arm to
do other things than it normally did. The brain needs to reconstruct itself. This part of his
brain is never gonna come back he needs to train the other side to take over.
Therapy for aphasia can be one-on-one and group speech therapy. There are other therapies
too.
Chriss mother and father had planned to retire a month after the stroke. His father says that
The timing was great we can take care of him. Its been a rollercoaster. Ups and downs.
But hes such a true inspiration to so many people. Were just both very happy that we were
here for him.
He was stubborn, and he still is, his mother says. He always comes out as a winner, but we
go through a lot.
Chris has participated weekly in both group and individual therapies he has shown
remarkable improvement. His communication is stronger ever after a short amount of
recovery time. His body is also nearly completely recovered as well. His right arm, leg, and
parts of his face are still partially paralyzed - but he is back to regular exercise.
Before his stroke, Chris had completed seven marathons. Since his stroke, he has completed
two marathons. In October, he came 325 at the Baltimore Marathon out of 15,965. In late
August, he ran a marathon in Reykjavik, Iceland. He also raised over $6,000 for an aphasia
charity (Aphasia Recovery Connection).
Through this charity, Chris has made friends with other young people. He has learned how to
communicate in a way that anyone can understand.
He speaks in key words. He also uses his phone and types it out. He also uses websites and
points to what he wants you to know. Otherwise, he runs to the other room to grab a
photograph of something that will explain it. He can show you pictures and videos to fill in
what hes trying to say. You suddenly realize you have having a conversation with him.
Chris zooms around on his smartphone between apps he also has a list of notes with
answers to questions people often ask. His mother and father are there to encourage him to
use the words, too.

Chris struggles to say the name of his profession. He was an engineer, his mother says. He
nods up and down and says yes.
His mother encourages him to say it. En-gin-eer, she says. He keeps trying until he says it
perfectly. Everyone around the table is happy. This triumph is one of many - he plans to be
an Iron Man before long.
Its difficult to imagine having all your intelligence but also not being able to express it. It is
like a dream of screaming out and no one can hear you. It is like waking up in the night,
trying to get an urgent message across.
And so Chris runs. He runs, and he runs. He volunteers in his community and at his prestroke place of work. He also hopes to find insurance that his family can afford. This will let
him continue the speech and social therapy he so desperately needs. And he fights for every
word.