MILWAUKEE — Andrew Bub, a stroke survivor, has discovered a unique path to recovery by embracing his passion for games. Alongside his supportive wife Linda Bub, a seasoned nurse with decades of experience, the couple has turned their stroke journey into a game-filled therapy that brings joy, progress, and renewed hope.
Andrew suffered two occipital strokes, one in November, and the other in December. The strokes impacted Andrew's vision, memory, and complex thinking.
"I had a big one where I lost part of my vision in both eyes," said Andrew.
"We noticed things are different: he couldn't write the same way, the had mood changes," said Linda, Andrew's wife.
According to the American Heart Association, a stroke impacts about 800,000 people in the United States every year. Barb Hughes, a neuroscience nurse practitioner said occipital strokes are not as common. The occipital lobe is the brain's visual processing center and can impact a person in many different ways.
"Depending upon where it occurs, will determine exactly what those symptoms are. In the case of an occipital stroke, it is visual, for the most part, that is it's going to be the symptom. So it could be that you lose half of your peripheral vision. You could lose central vision. You might have difficulty looking at a person and being able to understand who that is," said Hughes.
Because Andrew didn't suffer any physical impairment like one side weakness on the body, physical therapy was not prescribed as part of his recovery plan, however; determined to reclaim his mental health and memories, Andrew used his journalism skills and old career as Gamerdad, reviewing and writing articles about games for parents, as a way to improve his mental and visual abilities.
"Use what you can use...if I didn't have dexterity...if I could only do mind stuff, I can still do Trivial Pursuit... games can build those skills and make it fun," said Andrew.
Andrew, Linda, and the family started playing board games, beginning with simple ones like Crokinole, a game played with wood chips on a waxed board, then moving to more complex games.
"I started to think about what can I still do? What is positive about this experience...I chose board games because it brought all my struggles down to, what do I do now, what should I do now," said Andrew.
Linda said using the games as therapy has helped bring laughter back into their family home during a challenging time.
"It's kind of turned our lives upside down. The games have helped because they gave us focus and gave us something that is his and showing his improvement," said Linda.
These days Andrew has started winning at games again but for him, he said it's not about winning or losing. For Andrew, it's about using what he can do to improve daily and using his story to hopefully help and inspire others.
"Find creative ways for any afflicted family member to participate in group activities, to be part of the action, and maybe have a chance at winning or working together to win to accomplish something... you can reach them that way and I think people think of that as a way of therapy or bonding," said Andrew.
"By playing games your body learns, your brain learns to turn your head to make those cameras ( eyes) look over here," said Hughes.
Andrew and Linda suggest using games as a way to make the therapy process fun. Andrew knows his recovery will be a long and slow process but said the games have helped keep him motivated.
To spot a stroke, think B.E.F.A.S.T.
BALANCE
Sudden loss of balance
EYES
Sudden blurred or double vision
FACE DROOPING
Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile.
ARM WEAKNESS
Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
SPEECH DIFFICULTY
Is speech slurred, are they unable to speak, or are they hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like "the sky is blue." Is the sentence repeated correctly?
TIME TO CALL 911
If the person shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 911 and get them to the hospital immediately.
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