Music had always been Tim Letchworth’s life, but he almost lost both in May 2008.
Now he’s fighting his way back from a crippling stroke and trying to reestablish the music recording business he has in his Cherokee home.
“My mom taught me to play guitar and piano, and I’d been playing since I was 12 or 14,” said Letchworth, who used to play keyboard for the local band Predator.
He moved to Cherokee in 2001 when his mother became ill. Diagnosed with lung cancer, she died in April 2004. It was around this time that Letchworth was warned about his high blood pressure.
“I promised to follow up on it, but never did,” he said.
He had also been suffering from migraine headaches, at first only two or four a year.
“Just prior to May 2008 I experienced what I would call a severe migraine one to two times a week and each one took two or three days to recover from,” Letchworth said. “On a scale of one to 10, I would have to say the pain was a 20. The pain was always on the left side of my head, and was so severe that it caused projectile vomiting followed by dry heaves.”
He said that he went to three different hospitals and four or five different doctors, undergoing CAT scans, MRIs and extensive blood tests. After running up $10,000 in medical bills, he was told his headaches were probably caused by his high blood pressure.
“I started taking different blood pressure medicines, but the headaches wouldn’t stop,” he said. “I started taking combinations of aspirin, sinus pills and sinus sprays, but the migraines became worse.”
Sometimes he ran his bathtub full of water, so hot he could barely tolerate it.
“I’d stick my head in the water and it would relieve the pain for a few seconds,” Letchworth said. “I couldn’t work, I couldn’t maintain a relationship. My friends couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t answer my phone or my door. In the last few months before my stroke the headaches were so bad I wished I was dead.”
On the day of his stroke he was exhausted and slammed an energy drink.
“I think that put me over the edge,” Letchworth said. “My right foot started tingling like it was going to sleep, and then my right hand. Even the right side of my tongue tingled. I started falling over, and every time I tried to stand up I would throw up.”
Friends tried to persuade him to go to the doctor. He refused, but eventually gave in. It was too late.
“I became completely paralyzed on my right side,” Letchworth said. “But, believe it or not, my prayer had been answered because my headache was gone.”
He spent around a month in Mt. Carmel Regional Medical Center, and started on his long road back. He was hampered by deep feelings of embarrassment.
“When you have to drag your right side like Frankenstein and people are watching — I couldn’t do it,” Letchworth said. “I’d walk down the halls of Mt. Carmel at 4 a.m. so people wouldn’t see me.”
He added that Mt. Carmel helped him a lot.
“They gave me a cane and a thing for my shower,” he said. “They said it was from an anonymous donor.”
He was told he couldn’t return home unless he had someone to take care of him, so he lied and said he had somebody.
“I sat on my divan and I lost 30 or 40 pounds because I couldn’t cook for myself,” Letchworth said.
He also discovered another loss when he got home. Evidently a power surge had hit his home, and he lost his big screen TV, computer, CD player and, most important, the equipment in his home recording studio.
“It used to be a dining room, but I knocked out a wall and put the studio together piece by piece,” Letchworth said.
He began sitting at his piano, trying to get the fingers of his right hand to work, and also working to build up his left hand.
“Tim would sit at that piano and cry, but I knew he could do it,” said Gene Strasser, Pittsburg songwriter.
Letchworth has also had the help of another friend, Toni Parsons.
“She has been a nurse for years because she just wanted to help people, and I became her newest project,” he said.
He calculates that he has regained about 75 to 80 percent of what he lost.
“I probably will never regain the dexterity of my right arm and fingers,” Letchworth said.
However, Parsons helped him obtain a sophisticated Yamaha keyboard that can play guitar and piano for him if he can chord with his left hand.
“I’ve got a whole band right here,” Letchworth said.
With the help of the Yamaha, he was able to record “Water in the Blood,” a gospel album by Dave Talley, which will be released soon on Strasser’s label, Antique Records.
“I’m going to cut an album at Tim’s studio, and a couple of other people are interested,” Strasser said. “For Tim to come through what he has and keep going is terrific, and I’m so proud of him. Great music is coming out of here.”
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Music had always been Tim Letchworth’s life, but he almost lost both in May 2008.
Now he’s fighting his way back from a crippling stroke and trying to reestablish the music recording business he has in his Cherokee home.
“My mom taught me to play guitar and piano, and I’d been playing since I was 12 or 14,” said Letchworth, who used to play keyboard for the local band Predator.
He moved to Cherokee in 2001 when his mother became ill. Diagnosed with lung cancer, she died in April 2004. It was around this time that Letchworth was warned about his high blood pressure.
“I promised to follow up on it, but never did,” he said.
He had also been suffering from migraine headaches, at first only two or four a year.
“Just prior to May 2008 I experienced what I would call a severe migraine one to two times a week and each one took two or three days to recover from,” Letchworth said. “On a scale of one to 10, I would have to say the pain was a 20. The pain was always on the left side of my head, and was so severe that it caused projectile vomiting followed by dry heaves.”
He said that he went to three different hospitals and four or five different doctors, undergoing CAT scans, MRIs and extensive blood tests. After running up $10,000 in medical bills, he was told his headaches were probably caused by his high blood pressure.
“I started taking different blood pressure medicines, but the headaches wouldn’t stop,” he said. “I started taking combinations of aspirin, sinus pills and sinus sprays, but the migraines became worse.”
Sometimes he ran his bathtub full of water, so hot he could barely tolerate it.
“I’d stick my head in the water and it would relieve the pain for a few seconds,” Letchworth said. “I couldn’t work, I couldn’t maintain a relationship. My friends couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t answer my phone or my door. In the last few months before my stroke the headaches were so bad I wished I was dead.”
On the day of his stroke he was exhausted and slammed an energy drink.
“I think that put me over the edge,” Letchworth said. “My right foot started tingling like it was going to sleep, and then my right hand. Even the right side of my tongue tingled. I started falling over, and every time I tried to stand up I would throw up.”
Friends tried to persuade him to go to the doctor. He refused, but eventually gave in. It was too late.
“I became completely paralyzed on my right side,” Letchworth said. “But, believe it or not, my prayer had been answered because my headache was gone.”
He spent around a month in Mt. Carmel Regional Medical Center, and started on his long road back. He was hampered by deep feelings of embarrassment.
“When you have to drag your right side like Frankenstein and people are watching — I couldn’t do it,” Letchworth said. “I’d walk down the halls of Mt. Carmel at 4 a.m. so people wouldn’t see me.”
He added that Mt. Carmel helped him a lot.
“They gave me a cane and a thing for my shower,” he said. “They said it was from an anonymous donor.”
He was told he couldn’t return home unless he had someone to take care of him, so he lied and said he had somebody.
“I sat on my divan and I lost 30 or 40 pounds because I couldn’t cook for myself,” Letchworth said.
He also discovered another loss when he got home. Evidently a power surge had hit his home, and he lost his big screen TV, computer, CD player and, most important, the equipment in his home recording studio.
“It used to be a dining room, but I knocked out a wall and put the studio together piece by piece,” Letchworth said.
He began sitting at his piano, trying to get the fingers of his right hand to work, and also working to build up his left hand.
“Tim would sit at that piano and cry, but I knew he could do it,” said Gene Strasser, Pittsburg songwriter.
Letchworth has also had the help of another friend, Toni Parsons.
“She has been a nurse for years because she just wanted to help people, and I became her newest project,” he said.
He calculates that he has regained about 75 to 80 percent of what he lost.
“I probably will never regain the dexterity of my right arm and fingers,” Letchworth said.
However, Parsons helped him obtain a sophisticated Yamaha keyboard that can play guitar and piano for him if he can chord with his left hand.
“I’ve got a whole band right here,” Letchworth said.
With the help of the Yamaha, he was able to record “Water in the Blood,” a gospel album by Dave Talley, which will be released soon on Strasser’s label, Antique Records.
“I’m going to cut an album at Tim’s studio, and a couple of other people are interested,” Strasser said. “For Tim to come through what he has and keep going is terrific, and I’m so proud of him. Great music is coming out of here.”
