It has been 10 years since KAMC Chief Meteorologist Ron Roberts had a life-threatening stroke.
He says it’s something that changed him for the better but he says it’s still hard to talk about today.
“I was in front of the computer and felt something pop in my head and I thought I was getting a cold. I hopped in the shower and the water started to tingle down my left side and burn down my left arm down my left leg into my foot,” Ron recalls.
Ron’s mom, Ida Jones, says he called her and said he was feeling funny.
“I knew enough to know that he was in trouble,” Jones says.
Ron was having a stroke.
“I don’t suggest anyone doing this but I drove myself to the hospital,” Ron says.
“He beat me to the hospital because he drove like he does when he’s chasing clouds,” Jones laughs.
“He had a huge bleed in his brain in a very vital part of his brain,” explains Dr. Roger Wolcott, Ron’s physical therapist. “It almost killed him.”
Dr. Wolcott says it was both physical and mental obstacles he had to overcome.
“When you have a stroke it affects one side of your body and it causes weakness, spasticity, and incoordination,” Dr. Wolcott explains. “You’ve got to have the right mentality to survive something like that, you have to start life all over again.”
“You slowly watched him like a bad dream,” Jones recalls. “It’s like my world stood still.”
Jones says it was like that for quite a while, but she knew her son would get through it.
“I never felt like he was going to die,” Jones says. “I guess call it was you will I just had a real good feeling that he was going to be ok.”
A faith that resonated through the community and through her son.
“My attitude was okay God, you saved me,” Ron says. “It’s my job now to work hard.”
And he did.
Ron went to rehab for months to get his legs, arms and speech working again.
With his support system right by his side.
“One day I just said to him, Ron I taught you how to walk a long time ago and we’re going to go through this and I’m going to teach you how to walk again,” Jones says.
And step by step, hurdle after hurdle, he never gave up.
“He goes I’m going to back to work. It’s bad weather season. And I said Ron you cant go back to work yet and guess what? Ron went back to work,” Dr. Wolcott laughs.
But in all seriousness, Ron says it was the job that he loves that helped push him to get better, something that he says still happens to this day.
“Is it easy to get up every morning? No. Are there days that are harder than others? Yes. Does my left side hurt? Yes. Almost every day do I have some sort of pain? Yes. I don’t give a crap. I tell my brain to shut it off we have a job to do,” Ron says.
“I look at him on TV and I say, ‘Wow. God is good.’ I’m just so proud of him and I’m so grateful,” Jones says.
And Ron says a day doesn’t go by that he isn’t grateful for where he is today.
“I don’t look at myself as a hero, I look at myself as blessed,” Ron says holding back the tears. “I found out what was important. Everyday that I worked hard I would work hard first for my faith but also I worked for my kids. I had 4 kids watching me. I wanted to teach them something that you never ever ever give up.”
