Foundation Donor Walks the Talk
March 08, 2019
Stroke survivor James Capriglione pays it forward for future stroke patients by donating time and money to JFK Medical Center’s Stroke and Neurovascular Center.
Father’s Day is significant for many people, but for James Capriglione, it will always be the day he suffered a stroke.
Unable to walk, talk or move easily, he spent the next hour and a half crawling 18 feet to the bed where his wife had gone to sleep. Six minutes after he woke her, the ambulance was at his house and he was taken to JFK Medical Center.
“I have lived near the hospital for 35 years and did not realize that the Stroke and Neurovascular Center at JFK has been ranked first in New Jersey for stroke care for 11 years,” James says. “I am lucky and blessed that I was able to get the care that I needed to recover from my stroke from experts in stroke care when I needed them several years ago.”
Now that James counts himself as 98 percent recovered, he has become involved in efforts to increase stroke awareness in the community. He joins physicians and stroke center team members as a speaker at community events to talk about the importance of knowing stroke symptoms and understanding the importance of a comprehensive stroke center for the best recovery. “I have a family member who suffered a stroke but went to another hospital for care, and he’s still struggling with issues that I had overcome at the one-year mark,” he says.
His volunteer efforts go beyond speaking at events: He was a key participant in JFK’s first annual Stronger than Stroke Awareness Walk. By raising $1,250 from donors who supported his participation in the two-mile walk, James was one of the top three individuals in the event, which raised more than $30,000—triple the original goal—to support JFK’s Stroke and Neurovascular Center.
“I love to tell my story. Once people heard it, they wanted to donate,” James says. “I volunteer to help in any way that I can because ‘thank you’ is not enough to express how much I appreciate the JFK stroke care team.”
Support JFK Medical Center’s Stroke and Neurovascular Center.