Hope after stroke: Strength trainer guides victim recovery
By Heather Milo
Acorn Staff Writer

CHANGING LIVES--Tom Wisenbaker, right, Angel Fitness special needs trainer, works with Ray Olin who suffered a stroke six months ago.

Tom Wisenbaker, a special needs strength trainer for the past 30 years, long ago switched from assisting professional athletes with injuries to focusing his attention on the needs of stroke victims. His adaptive techniques have provided a world of difference for a number of stroke sufferers, who come to Angel City Fitness in Newbury Park to learn how to gain hope and recovery through proper muscle work, even when the doctors have said they will never walk or talk again.

Regarding their current arrangement with Angel City, wife Renee Wertenberger-Wisenbaker said that the Angel City Fitness center is really interested in making a difference in the community. Wisenbaker agreed that it is a very value-oriented gym, with a different atmosphere than gyms focused only on the 18-35 age group. A good amount of seniors attend. For more information, call Progressive Recovery at (805) 320-1599, or contact Angel City Fitness at 161 N. Reino Road, Newbury Park, 91320, (805) 499-0023.

Stroke is the number one cause of serious, long-term adult disability in America, and over the course of a lifetime, four out of five families will be touched by it in some way. Local residents Ray and Sandy Olin found this to be true when Ray had a severe stroke in the middle of the night—a pain that started out as harmless-seeming as a charley horse, but landed Ray still, "like a mummy," said his wife Sandy. Though the paramedics arrived four minutes after her phone call, the prognosis did not look good.

"If you had seen my husband a few months ago, you wouldn’t believe he was the same man. Medicare had given up on him six months ago," she said. Ray was in Los Robles Medical Center for 11 days before he was moved to Cedar Sinai Hospital for eight weeks. After five weeks, doctors were telling Sandy to find her husband a nursing home as there was nothing more they could do for him, and they didn’t think he’d recover. He couldn’t walk or talk.

A stroke support group member at Los Robles mentioned Wisenbaker’s work. Wisenbaker gave Ray a two-hour evaluation, and then told the couple he believed he could help.

Sandy describes his technique as finding other pathways to the brain through working proper muscle groups. Ray and Sandy have been coming to Angel City Fitness three times a week for the past two months to see Wisenbaker. Ray can now walk and talk, and though he still has some way to go, he’s making cheerful progress. The Olins view the therapy as a miracle. "It was one of the worst strokes you can imagine," said Sandy. Regarding Wisenbaker, she said, "He’s got an absolute wonderful way with people."

Going back to see the neurologist at Cedar Sinai, the Olins had the satisfaction of surprising their doctor. "You should be dead," the neurologist told Ray in amazement.

Wisenbaker calls stroke victims "brain accident" victims, and that in America there are seven hundred thousand stroke victims that could be recovering better.

A Thousand Oaks fire captain recently had such a stroke, and thanks to his work with Wisenbaker, just passed the strength and agility test required for fire academy entrants. The test is rigorous even for the young entrants just out of high school, but Mark Aceveto passed the test at age 44, after a stroke which four doctors said would keep him out of work for the rest of his life. Wisenbaker worked with Aceveto every day for eight months.

"It’s not a miracle by any means, it’s hard, hard work. I’ve spent 20 years on this project. It’s amazing what can happen. Everybody can gain significantly beyond being released [from the hospital.] People can do things after science says they can’t," Wisenbaker said.

Another patient who chose to work with Wisenbaker, Howard Falk, has told his stroke recovery story so many times that Wisenbaker jokes he’s sick of it. Falk said that Wisenbaker pushes him at each workout, "But he knows it’s for your own good. He pushes, but he knows when to let up." Wisenbaker responded, "This is all about them. They’re pushing, not me."

Wisenbaker has received a book full of awards and letters with testimonials of the life-changing work through which he has lead people. The Ancillary Health Provider of the Year Award from the American Heart Association, a California Legislature Assembly Resolution from Republican Assemblyman Tony Strickland, a California State Senate Certificate from state Senator Tom McClintock and a Resolution of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors are only a small handful of the evidence of the effects of Wisenbaker’s work.

Wisenbaker holds a perfect safety record at Angel City. "All we see is benefit."