Mark Barie (left) and family
(01/26/12) As the country buckles down for a lengthy and volatile presidential campaign, voters in the North Country are preparing for another election in New York's 23rd Congressional District.
Two years ago, the Upstate New York Tea Party was right in the thick of things. The group's chairman, Mark Barie, became a major player in the congressional battle between incumbent Representative Bill Owens, a Democrat from Plattsburgh; Matt Doheny, a former Wall Street financier who now lives in Watertown; and Doug Hoffman, an accountant and businessman from Lake Placid.
In March 2011, Barie suffered a brain aneurism and three strokes. Today, in part one of a two-part series, Chris Morris looks at Barie's road to recovery as he prepares to re-enter what's sure to be a big political fight in the 23rd District.
For Oliver Barie, March 28, 2011, was one of the worst days
of his life.
The 22-year-old, who lives in Plattsburgh, was working at
Super Shoes when he received word that his father, Mark Barie, was having
trouble breathing, experiencing a bad headache and throwing up.
Oliver says his first thought was that his dad was having a
heart attack. But that wasn’t the case. On
that day last March, Mark Barie suffered a brain aneurism, followed by three
consecutive strokes.
At the CVPH Medical Center in Plattsburgh, Oliver says
doctors immediately performed a CAT scan on his dad.
“And they found bleeding, and that’s when they said, ‘We’re
going to Fletcher Allen,’” Oliver said. “So they brought him over to Vermont,
and they still weren’t sure if it was an aneurism or not, but there was
definitely bleeding of the brain. So by that time – there’s four kids in our
family – all of us were at the hospital by then. We all drove over to Fletcher
Allen.”
After doctors discovered the aneurism, Oliver says the
primary concern became the risk of a stroke.
“All the blood in the brain almost massages the veins too much,
causing them to close up – that was their biggest worry,” he said. “It was
pretty scary; I’m not going to lie. We were all pretty emotionally drained out
by the end of that day.”
The following day, more family members arrived in
Burlington. Doctors performed an angiogram of Mark’s brain and found that the
chance of a stroke was between 1 and 3 percent. Two hours later, Oliver says
the family was feeling happy, although his mother was still concerned that they
weren’t out of the woods.
“It was weird, because my mom had a feeling something wasn’t
right,” he said. “And she went to go check in on dad, and the minute she went
to go check in, a couple doctors rushed in and said, ‘He had a medical event.’
That was when he had the three strokes. I said goodbye to my dad that night,
because we just weren’t sure. The doctors couldn’t give us any kind of answer.
They didn’t know if he was going to make it to the next morning or not.”
As it turns out, that goodbye wasn’t necessary. Mark pulled
through, despite the odds. Today, his speech is still slightly slurred. He says
his recovery has been tough.
“I’m doing well. I’m still on disability. They won’t let me
drive because I walk and talk like a drunk, especially when I get tired,” Mark
said. “I’m exercising. I’m swimming four times a week. I’m up to 12 laps of the
pool. My wife is my personal lifeguard; apparently, she thinks it would be very
embarrassing if after a ruptured brain aneurism and three strokes, I drowned in
3 feet of water.”
The exercise is good for Mark’s body, but it doesn’t do much
for his sense of balance. Regaining that, he says, will be a long journey.
“My body is kind of wrecked up,” he said. “I don’t have fine
motor control or anything like that. I type really lousy, considering I typed
really lousy before.”
Oliver says his dad’s is still the same outspoken, fiercely
conservative activist he was before the strokes.
And Mark agrees.
“Despite a month in the hospital in Vermont, I came out as
conservative as ever,” he said. “My mind is intact, unfortunately for my
enemies.”
For North Country Public Radio, I’m Chris Morris
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