'I hope you dance': Stroke survivor shows power of determination

On May 18, Beth Murphy slipped into a floor-length fuchsia dress, stepped into her gold ballet flats and walked proudly down the aisle to watch her son, Connor, get married in Southport, Connecticut. 

Later, mother and son took to the dance floor, but their steps were more than a typical mother-son dance. 

Theirs was a triumph of the human spirit, forged by sheer force of will, an abundance of hope and dedicated therapists, including the team at the Medical University of South Carolina's Stroke Recovery Research Center. 

“I was determined to dance at my son’s wedding,” said Murphy, who suffered a massive stroke in 2021. “And I told everyone, including my therapists, that I would do it.”

Friends and family who encircled the dance floor weren’t surprised to see Murphy twirl and dip to her favorite song, “I Hope You Dance.”

After all, hope, determination and a seemingly bottomless well of strength are the renewable resources that have powered Murphy through 23 years of loss and illness. 

On Sept. 11, 2001, her husband, Kevin, died in the attacks on the World Trade Center, leaving her, at age 37, to raise two young children on her own while battling melanoma. She had been given a 50% chance of surviving, but she was determined to be present and strong for Connor, who was 7, and her daughter, Caitlyn, 4.

In 2015, she underwent a heart ablation. Three years later, in 2018, she was diagnosed with lung cancer and had a right lung wedge dissection. The following year, she underwent reconstructive surgery on her left foot. 

Despite these serious challenges, Murphy kept on pushing. She put her master’s degree in counseling and her life experiences in the school of hard knocks to good use, counseling veterans in Suffolk County on Long Island, New York. On good days, she helped them to transition to civilian life; on bad days, she had suicide prevention duty. 

By 2021, life was gratifying. Connor and Caitlyn were grown and flourishing in their careers. Murphy had been promoted to senior deputy commissioner in the Suffolk County Department of Labor.

As the 20^th anniversary of Sept. 11 approached, the three of them had gathered at Murphy’s Northport home on Long Island to go into Manhattan for the 20^th anniversary memorial event.

And then Murphy got a searing headache. Thinking it was triggered by stress, she did what she always does: She decided to push through the pain and went to the gym to lift weights.

Her outlet failed.

“By evening, I was bent double and slurring my words,” she said. “Caitlyn recognized the signs of a stroke. I heard her yell to Connor to call 911.” 

In the ambulance, EMS workers gave her clot-busting medication. Imaging at the hospital showed a large clot on the right side of her brain. She was airlifted to another hospital, where surgeons performed a thrombectomy to remove the clot. She also had two dissected carotid arteries and two brain bleeds. 

When Murphy awoke, her left side was paralyzed. On Sept. 10, her doctor delivered the devastating news: Murphy probably would not walk again. True to her nature, Murphy refused to accept that fate. She requested that a television be brought to her room. 

"When I saw my husband’s image on the screen during the memorial, I made a vow,” Murphy said. “I said, ‘Kevin, I need to live for these kids, and I need to walk again. I promise I will fight, fight, fight and walk again.’”

Three months later, after intensive sessions with a physical therapist who shared her determination, Murphy was walking with the aid of a single cane. Six months after her stroke, she walked along the shore in Aruba.

Still, Murphy wanted to walk unassisted and steadily without dragging her left foot. 

She began researching “like crazy” to find a medical facility where she could participate in a clinical trial to recover more function. “New York has wonderful hospitals, but I was either too healthy, too strong or told I was pushing myself,” she said. 

That’s when she found MUSC’s Stroke Recovery Research Center, which supports stroke recovery studies on processes specific to walking, balance and strength training; arm and hand function; voice and swallowing disorders; depression; visual neglect; and sensation.

After meeting with the center’s team and talking with physical therapy assistant Alyssa Chesnutt, the center’s principal navigator, Murphy knew she was in the right place. 

“I knew this was a place of healing – a place where I needed to be,” she said. “I could tell immediately that the center’s research was great, but I needed that personal connection. That’s what will make people get up and fight 10 times harder, and that’s what MUSC did for me.”

Murphy qualified for a 12-week study for chronic stroke survivors at least six months post-stroke. It's looking at outcomes such as gait speed, dynamic balance and cognition.

MUSC is performing a clinical trial in stroke survivors to test the efficacy of a noninvasive wearable device known as a portable neuromodulation stimulator, or PoNs, which stimulates the front of the tongue, targeting sensory receptors connected to cranial nerves that influence motor control and balance and has been shown to benefit walking and balance in those with multiple sclerosis. If the trial is successful, the company that manufactures the PoNs will be seeking Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the device for the stroke population. 

 

Three times a week for a month, participants wear the device for 60 minutes each of gait training, dynamic balance training and breathing and meditation in segments of 20 minutes, with the PoNs device. Participants then use the device on their own at home with tele-therapy support for eight additional weeks, three times a week using a home exercise program, before returning to the center for their post-assessments.

“The therapy was intense, and I worked like a dog, but Danielle Feerst, my therapist, is so talented and positive. She gave me hope and encouraged me every step of the way,” Murphy said. 

Feerst, an occupational therapist and the lead research coordinator for the chronic stroke research study, said Murphy was committed to improving her balance and returning to activities that are important to her, including being able to get up on her own from her beach chair. 

“Beth was highly motivated and a dedicated participant, and I know she’ll keep fighting,” Feerst said.

Thanks to her participation in research trials at MUSC, and a second device that uses artificial intelligence to stimulate her nerves so she can raise her foot when she walks, Murphy once more is walking to all the good things in life. Now, she wants to recover the function in her arm. And she is ready to be an advocate and a voice for others who are facing daunting physical challenges. 

“My whole life, I’ve helped people, and I want to do what no one did for me,” Murphy said. When I was in that hospital bed in 2021, I needed a professional to say, ‘Keep fighting,’ and not tell me I was going to be in a wheelchair. If I hadn’t pushed and searched for therapy, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

“I want to do what the team at MUSC did for me and give people a sense of hope.”

For more information on MUSC’s Stroke Recovery Research Center and related studies, contact Alyssa Chesnutt at 843-792-8171 or hydar@musc.edu.