CTInsider: Trumbull stroke survivor finds purpose inspiring patients at Gaylord in Fairfield

Lifelong Trumbull resident Garrett Mendez has always been an athlete - and it's that mindset, he says, that has carried him through the past 20 years of his recovery.

At 19, Mendez suffered a brain stem stroke after hitting his head during a hockey game. He spent the next two decades relearning how to move and rebuilding his speech at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare in Wallingford.

Today, the 39-year-old is a familiar face at Gaylord's new outpatient therapy clinic in Fairfield, which opened in early December as the organization's sixth outpatient location in Connecticut. The site offers orthopedic and neurological physical therapy, as well as occupational and speech therapy.

"I wish that this kind of facility near my house was available when I was in rehab," Mendez said, "because there's a lot of physical therapy around Fairfield County, but nothing like the care I received when I was at Gaylord."

A life-changing moment

It was November 2005. Mendez, then a college freshman, was trying to block a puck when he dove headfirst into the boards. He quickly got on his feet and finished the game after being checked out by a trainer.

Days later, he developed severe headaches, weak knees, facial numbness and vomiting. Thinking he had the flu, he went to sleep - but the next morning, his family couldn't wake him.

The blow had torn an artery in the back of his neck, causing slow bleeding and clotting that eventually triggered a brain stem stroke. Initially, the stroke was misdiagnosed for the first 36 hours after a doctor insisted he was too young to have one. The family sought a second opinion, which confirmed the stroke.

More than 795,000 people nationwide experience a stroke each year, making it a leading cause of long-term disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Because the brain stem is a critical part of the central nervous system, a stroke in this area can impair vital functions, including consciousness, blood pressure and breathing. Yet, according to the American Stroke Association, brain stem strokes can be difficult to diagnose because they don't always display the classic signs of a stroke.

When Mendez regained consciousness, he said he was effectively "locked in," unable to speak, swallow, see or move, reliant on a ventilator. He was in the hospital's intensive care unit for 20 days before being transferred to Gaylord Hospital, where he slowly began to rebuild neural connections.

After his discharge, Mendez began outpatient physical, occupational, pool and speech therapy five days a week. His family would trek 45 minutes each way from Trumbull to Wallingford for his care.

His mother, Eileen Mendez, remembers that his progress came in small milestones - sitting up unassisted, standing for the first time.

Peter Grevelding, now chief operating officer at Gaylord, was one of the therapists who worked with Garrett Mendez in the early days of his recovery. He said physical therapy blends multiple sciences, often requiring therapists to act as coach, psychologist and physicist simultaneously. Although the 19-year-old had significant hurdles ahead, Grevelding said the rehab team could see a fight and fire in Mendez.

"I pushed him. I saw he had the athlete mentality, and gave him a little nudge," Grevelding said. "We've been in touch - and what I would consider friends -for the past 20 years."

Since the stroke, Mendez has regained movement on his left side, his vision has cleared, and he can eat on his own. He even returned to the ice with his former high school teammates.

"It really was great to be able to be that mobile," Mendez said. "I thought that being that mobile was kind of like a distant memory for me. Just being able to be that independent and do things I used to do - because there are certain things I can't do that I used to do - but it was great to be able to get back to something that was a form of exercise that I used to love doing."

He also returned to school, graduating from Sacred Heart University in 2023 with a degree in psychology.

The Mendez family became advocates for stroke awareness, speaking on behalf of Gaylord, the American Heart Association and the Stroke Association.

His mother, for example, said she didn't realize vomiting could be a sign of a stroke. Had she known, she said, the family likely would have taken different steps.

"Who would have thought that something that happened six days earlier would cause something catastrophic like that?" Eileen Mendez said. "That was such an eye-opener for us."

Full circle

In 2011, Garrett Mendez worked as a physical therapy aide while volunteering at Gaylord, transporting patients and sharing his story. Now working full-time at Gaylord's Fairfield clinic, Mendez supports people going through the same outpatient therapy he once needed. He hopes his presence offers them encouragement and inspiration that recovery is possible.

"It's very tiring and very, very tedious to do the same thing over and over and try to expect a different result," he said. "It really takes a lot of dedication and a lot of persistence. And to see the kind of injuries in my office, it also has a therapeutic effect on me to understand how far I've come over the years."

Gaylord had long planned to expand into Fairfield County, Grevelding said. When the new clinic opened, he added that hiring Mendez "was an obvious choice" because of the personal and local connection he brings to patients.

"To watch Garrett through the years, go back to school, get degrees, and continue to progress himself professionally at each step, from where he started to where he is now, is super impressive," he said.

For his mother, seeing him working at Gaylord feels like life coming full circle.

"He is living proof that you can get through anything in life," she said. "As dark as things may seem at one moment, that's not necessarily how they're going to be the next moment."