COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BP)–James Dobson, president and founder of Focus on the Family, returned to work June 23 less than a week after suffering a stroke.
In an emotional, unexpected appearance before 1,300 staff members at the Colorado Springs, Colo., ministry, Dobson described his wife, Shirley, as “the heroine of this episode” for her quick action in summoning emergency medical attention when his stroke symptoms first appeared the late evening of June 16 at their home. The staff members had gathered for an update on Dobson’s recovery.
“I have to say that I just have witnessed a miracle,” Dobson said during the 35-minute meeting, according to Focus on the Family’s Pastor’s Weekly Briefing. “My two physicians said they’ve never seen anyone recover from a stroke that quickly.”
Shirley Dobson credited her husband’s recovery to the fact that “millions of people around the nation and the world (were) praying for him.”
According to the pastors’ newsletter, physicians assessed Dobson’s condition and quickly administered a new medicine, TPA (tissue plasminogen activator), which must be done within three hours after a stroke. Dobson told Focus employees TPA has been used only since 1996 and remains a dangerous medicine that can sometimes cause hemorrhaging and even death.
Still, Dobson was unable to speak for the first 12 hours after the stroke.
“I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t work my hand. I couldn’t write,” Dobson recounted. “I didn’t understand a lot of what was going on. It was a very scary event.”
Dobson’s stroke, the newsletter said, was caused by a tiny blood clot the size of a pinhead that had lodged itself in the left temple lobe of his brain, the eloquence cortex, the part of the brain responsible for speech, writing, understanding and creativity — “everything that I am,” Dobson said.
The next morning, Dobson’s condition “improved literally by the hour,” H.B. London, a Focus vice president, said, according to Zondervan News Service. Dobson no longer has any weakness on the right side of his body and major tests showed there was no hemorrhaging or other injury, London said. Dobson’s doctors have said he can resume his normal activities at a pace with which he is comfortable, though he plans to “slow down,” London said.
Dobson and his wife recounted their experiences during Focus’ June 24 half-hour broadcast carried on 2,700 stations across the country. Otherwise, the daily broadcasts have been prerecorded through August, Zondervan News Service reported.
Dobson’s hospitalization came less than a week after he spoke at the Southern Baptist Convention’s closing session June 11 in Salt Lake City. In his address, Dobson called on Southern Baptists to continue to take biblical stands against moral decay in American culture.
While Focus on the Family has become the country’s leading Christian ministry in support of marriage and the family, Dobson has become increasingly outspoken on public-policy issues in recent years. In February, he accused the Republican Party of betraying pro-family voters, warning he would remove his support and “take as many people with me as possible” if the GOP did not attempt to fulfill its promises.
