Headline: SOUTH SIDE POLITICIAN GETS FORCED PRIMER ON HEALTH CARE ISSUE
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed:  Thu., Sep. 14, 2000
Section: METRO, Page: B1, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT

Fighting back from stroke

Phil Sgroi was set to give it his all.
  
In the 1980s, he had been a South Side politician, the Democratic committeeman from the city's 14th Ward.
   Longtime political junkies may remember him. Sgroi -- pronounced SA-GROY -- was a "good government" politician, one of those guys who's the fly in the ointment of politics-as-usual. In the early '80s, he was a thorn in the side of Joseph P. Roddy, the then-powerful chairman of the city's Democratic Party. He was the kind of politician who always tried to get the press into closed political meetings. He often spoke against the city's entrenched patronage system.

Like many St. Louisans, however, Sgroi ultimately left the city and moved to Concord Village in south St. Louis County. For several years, he left politics alone.

But politics was still in his blood. So early this year, Sgroi, 55, decided to seek his party's nomination for state representative in the 99th District.
  
Sgroi thought he knew what to expect: the meetings, the speeches, the shaking of hands. He'd run for office before.

But something happened that Sgroi hadn't expected.
  
On April 24, Sgroi had been giving a speech, talking about what he wanted to do if elected state representative. When he finished his speech and went to his seat, he found that he couldn't sit straight, no matter how he tried.
  
Sgroi had suffered a stroke.
  
With his wife, Alice, by his side, Sgroi was devastated. He couldn't talk or do anything for himself. Some of his experiences -- like needing help to use the bathroom -- were humbling. 

To no one's surprise, Sgroi dropped out of the race. He focused all of his intentions on getting better. Soon he was able to speak words. Words became sentences. Before long, he was able to communicate normally again.
  
He had to learn to walk again and to do other things for himself. He credits many of the people involved with SSM Rehab for helping him: Dr. Harmeen Chawla and Dr. Gerald Erker; Nancy Barrett and Joe LaPorta, his physical therapists; Julie Treppler, his speech pathologist; and Pam Smith, his occupational therapist.
  
Every day, he went through a variety of exercises, including physical, occupational, speech and recreational therapy. He exercised his mind, too, by watching "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire."
  
"Watching the show and answering the questions allowed him to reach into his memory and pull out things that he wasn't sure were still there, " Alice Sgroi said. "It helped him develop his confidence."
  
Phil Sgroi said that while he had moments where he was depressed, he kept those feelings at bay by focusing on what he wanted to achieve each day.
  
Alice Sgroi said, "If his task for the day was learning how to hold a cup, he concentrated on that and gave it his full attention."
  
The past few months have not been easy ones for Phil Sgroi.
   But he's been gradually bouncing back. With the help of a cane, he can walk 200 feet now, and he's getting better each day.

So much better, in fact, that his thoughts are turning to politics again. He hopes to be well enough to run for state representative in 2002.
  
And he thinks his recent experiences have made him stronger and given him new insight.
  
"I think what's happened to me has made me much more sensitive to issues that everyday people face, like health care, " he said. "Health care should be a basic human right, not a privilege that only the wealthy can afford."
  
The issue struck home with him. While his health insurance is covering much of his care, it won't cover at-home care, and he and his wife can't afford it themselves. And it's difficult to get help from their HMO.
  
So Sgroi works to get better each day, readying himself for a race where he hopes to make a difference, despite the curves that life has thrown him.


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