A Call for Greatness: A Strokes, Heart-Attacks, and Homelessness Memoir

By Garrett Alston

This book was written as a memoir about what Garrett Alston, PS winner, went through during a very trying time of strokes and heart-attacks protocol. It shows the ups and downs and the challenges he experienced and overcame by having a not-giving-up and refuse-to-lose mentality. He was in the hospital for months and then was homeless, living in his black Mamba jeep Wrangler Unlimited he affectionately called PersyGT (perserverance and good trouble). He did this while still in stroke protocol. He does not wish this on anyone but is aware that with this worldwide pandemic, a lot of people are facing challenges, of no fault of their own, and are experiencing loss of job, house, and car. He says, “Don’t give up. Don’t you ever give up.” (Thank you, Jim Valvano, his championship coach). You do not have that luxury. Too many people need your unique life input.

He also met the love of his life on Facebook (Charlie Salibay) while homeless. God can turn bad into good, given the chance. They named it A Call for Greatness because the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had these quotes:

Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service… You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.

Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

These quotes were researched and found on the quotes page he keeps and grows. These quotes are their motivation for the title of the book because they both have a heart for servitude, and like what Sean Combs said, “Do not speak about it. Be about it.” They take that very seriously and offer various tips on a variety of subjects throughout the book based on experience learned, knowledge, and good old common sense. Happy reading and God bless all!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662446016

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Beginning of Trouble

November 22, 2017, was an absolutely gorgeous South Florida day. I got up from my overnight security-officer position with my usual one hour of sleep.

I was going down Route 95 south like always to Boca Raton to my day business-sales job. I was turning off to Yamato Road to the right, and I got hit up to the left or driver’s side of my car by a box truck with three guys in it.

It knocked off my mirror and dented the frame and tore up the whole left side of my Hyundai. We pulled off the side of the road. I was having breathing problems. An officer from the Florida Highway Patrol came and asked, What happened?

I said, They ran up the side of my car, probably looking at my car signs.

They seemed nervous, getting the lies out of their mouths, and said, He ran into us.

The officer looked and believed those three over me and issued me two tickets for driving recklessly and speeding, among other things. I was supposed to go to the Delray Beach courthouse that day, but that would not happen until months later. I was very upset and discombobulated. I drove off but went the wrong way and somehow ended close to Route 1 near the beach. I was lost (I think near downtown Boca Raton) and was being tailgated hard and ran into the back of two nice ladies and injured their car. Praise God, they weren’t injured. The lady would later see me in court (months later) and would tell the judge, He has been through a lot already. He has been punished enough. That was after seeing me in stroke protocol; we’ll have more on that later. It will be revealed in the book what happened to me.

I was in Boca Raton Regional Hospital twice in one day. The first time was for touches of bronchitis and probably for not feeling well after two accidents, and the other was when I went back to the lot where my car was left (after the first time in the hospital that day). It was driven there by a very nice security officer from the hospital at night. I wasn’t familiar with that part of Boca and ended up driving down the wrong side of the road. A man came out of nowhere and told me I almost hit and killed him. He said, Hold on, I think you are drunk. I’m calling the cops. That decision by my guardian angel would save my life and became my first miracle!

I said, I don’t drink, but I will wait for the cops!

I waited, and an officer from the Boca Police Department showed up and said, Sir, get out of the car, and we are going to administer a sobriety check.

I told him, I could not move my left side to open my door. He immediately knew that I had a stroke and called for the paramedics to show up from the radio positioned on his left chest. Thank God that officer was patient and knew the acronym FAST (face, arm, speech, and time)—the call letters for having a stroke. First, before I went to the hospital, the officers asked me if I had any weapons on me.

I said, I had my concealed-carry permit, was a licensed armed security officer, and always keep my gun on me for protection. Yes, I have a Florida concealed-carry license. He then confiscated my gun and gave me a receipt for its retrieval once I was out of the hospital. Time was of essence to get me to the same hospital I had been earlier in the day. The emergency-room staff had remembered me from earlier in the day.

I had three strokes and another ailment I will disclose in another chapter. This would start a new chapter in my life, and I would never be the same again.

Chapter 2

Long Hospital Stay

Iwas now in the emergency room for the second time in a day, but this time, I wouldn’t be discharged for months (I was in for five months). And I would eventually lose almost everything I worked hard for, which I would later on learn when I woke up from the anesthesia. I was paralyzed on the left side of my body; right-side brain affects left side of the body. I realized I had no initial use of my left leg or arm. My speech, praise God, did not suffer as much as other stroke patients. I did have a problem swallowing, and I couldn’t control the gas stoppage out of my bowels. I became embarrassed and very depressed.

I needed nurses and nurse aides for all my needs now; they were all positive, professional, and caring. As a matter of fact, I always was given food; every time I would look up, I would see food. And I noticed overtime, with inactivity and just lying there, my belly was getting big again. I would joke with the nurses about me being baby Buddha and wrapping a gold band around my waist and wearing a gold hat and sitting on a mountain top and being worshipped by people. This would always lighten the mood and get a big laugh from anyone who was in the room. Thank God that the series of strokes didn’t take my sense of humor or the ability to think rationally. I have never been particularly funny, as one of my brothers would remind me constantly, but I had to try to relax the environment. And what better way than humor? We would talk in general.

Now when I look back on it, I think it was a medical thing to test my cognitive abilities. God provided me with the best set of nurses I could have had. Shout out to the nurses on the ninth floor and the other floors I occupied at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. I never saw the doctors again. Being a diabetic and since I had limited movement and had pain with the stroke (I will beat this), I was put on a strict diet. I learned to love the extra Graham Crackers I would receive from the great staff.

I did have my favorite nurses, like all of us have, but I won’t single out anyone in case I were to miss someone. Collectively, they were all great. The nursing assistants were very attentive and treated me great as well. I would later have four great physical and occupational main therapists. We’ll have more on them later.

I did the same things on a daily basis—wake up, do tests, eat, go to the bathroom, get washed up, watch TV or read, and just get the needed rest when I could. I needed to catch up. I learned to use my wooden back scratcher (woody) as my new left hand if I needed something on the left side of my body. My left-side body was paralyzed, as the strokes were affecting my right brain.

I would use my phones sparingly due to not having a charger. Also, my fingernails and toenails were left to grow unattended, as was the policy of nobody cutting them unless you or a family member did. As stated earlier, I had no family close by and forgot to bring nail clippers due to not planning to be in hospital that day. I started to resemble a monster. I was always a clean-cut kind of dude, but I did not shave for the whole five months I was there until I was getting discharged. I would only check Facebook, Messenger, and email once a week. I did learn how to better use Facebook when I was in the hospital. Thank you, nurses, again for what you did for me.

At night, I didn’t get much rest, as anyone who has stayed in the hospital knows all too well. Blood-pressure and temperature checks, taking night pills, and taking of my blood for further tests were done on a regular basis. I got rest and appreciated when I got it. I noticed with therapy my voice and swallowing were almost the same; it needed work though. I worked hard with the speech therapists I was assigned to. I appreciate you, ladies, and may God bless you and your future endeavors. I appreciate the downstairs dining-hall staff. They would sometimes give me extra because even they saw me recovering at record pace, and I always had a smile and great conversation for them. I appreciate my transport and cleaning specialists as well. I don’t care what your job was. I tried to make all people worthy, as I was just so happy to be alive and of sound mind still. God really blessed me.

One night, he told me, Seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you. God promises his word will not return back to him void (Isaiah 55). Thanks, cuzzo Rachel,