When Antonio Iannella, above, suffered a stroke on a family holiday in 2012, he thought his life was over. Little did he know it was just being redirected.
The 45-year-old from Melton was paralysed from the neck down, unable to speak, eat and do the one thing he loved – play music.
“Everything changed – I couldn’t function and I needed care for quite a while,” Mr Iannella says of his first few months.
“Then my right side started to return to normal function and that gave me a little bit of hope. Once I had hope, everything else was just like building blocks.”
He describes his recovery process as not just a physical journey but one that forced him to “dig deeper” on a spiritual level.
“Being able to tap into my inner-self and find hope and inspiration and the lots of good people around me helped me a lot,” he says.
Mr Iannella is unable to play the guitar now, but taught himself how to play the piano one-handed.
He also finished writing all of the songs he never got around to completing before his stroke.
“I still want to do things,” Mr Iannella says. “Just because I’ve had a stroke doesn’t mean my life’s over. You just find new ways to do things and when you’re forced to find new ways, you discover things.”
In recognition of his creativity and determination, Mr Iannella has been named a finalist in the Creative Award category of the National Stroke Foundation’s 2014 Stroke Awards. He’s calling on the community to nominate their stroke champions for this year’s awards.
Nominations close on Friday, July 31. Click here to nominate.
