Support Disabled Golfers - NAOAGA Boston 2020

Hello,   I hope you've been well. As part of your charitable giving, I am asking your organization to kindly support our nonprofit organization. Details on how to support us and register are available by clicking below: NAOAGA Boston 2020 Fundraiser I'm on the board of the not-for-profit North American One-Armed Golfer Association which caters to golfers with disabilities of many kinds, and we would very much appreciate any support you could lend in terms of sponsorship and advertising. Our national tournament will be at Ocean Edge Resort on Cape Cod the last week of June 2020, and prior to that, I'm hosting a fundraiser at Brookmeadow Country Club in Canton, MA on May 18th, 2020. If you could provide any support, please let me know. Thanks so much for your time. I would appreciate you forwarding this to the right person, and I'd be happy to follow up with that person if it is not you. My number is 617-855-9449. Learn more about NAOAGA and our disabled members here: www.naoaga.org   #NeverQuit! Cheers and best regards, Musa Pam Email: musa@naoaga.org The North American One-Armed Golfer Association (Tax ID 61-1394576) is a fully exempt 501(c)(3) charitable private foundation. Donors may deduct contributions to the extent permissible under Internal Revenue Code, Section 170.

North American One-Armed Golfer Association, 1 Santa Barbara Ct, Odessa, Texas 79765, 8186368109

My First Podcast - Stroke Recovery and Sport | Musa Pam

Hi friends,

A few weeks ago, Bill Gasiamis hit me up on Instagram. We were already following each other, and he'd been intrigued about my Instagram handle, @onearmedgolfchamp. We exchanged a few messages, and voila... I'm the subject of one of his podcast episodes - my very first podcast, I might add. The episode can be found here:
Stroke Recovery and Sport | Musa Pam

I really appreciate all that Bill does to raise and spread awareness about strokes and stroke recovery on his website Recovery After Stroke, Please check it out and offer your support!

Please Support My 2019 NAOAGA One-Armed Golf Fundraiser

Please support our fundraiser here:

Please Support My 2019 NAOAGA One-Armed Golf Fundraiser

As you may know, I've been a stroke survivor since January 20th, 2012 when my life changed. Thanks to providers, family, friends and supporters like you, I am here today. I'm also blessed to have been able to use the return to golf as a therapeutic outlet in dealing with my disability, and I'm now proud to serve on the NAOAGA Board, supporting our members, and leading the effort to project and promote NAOAGA's image on the web via our website and social media. Our members include amputees, accident and trauma victims, veterans, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and stroke survivors, those born with malformations, and others. While each person has his/her unique story, the strength everyone draws from this community of survivors that binds us all is undeniable, hence our motto, which is 'Never Quit!'

Thanks to support of family, friends and strangers,I now serve on the NAOAGA Board, and am proud to have won the 2017 Sanders Division Champion for my first ever individual golf championship! As a result, I was named to the team representing North America in the upcoming Ryder Cup-style biennial 2018 Fightmaster Cup Tournament in the UK competing against the best European one-armed golfers, but unfortunately I was unable to participate.

The mission of NAOAGA is to promote the game of golf to those that must play "one-handed" due to a physically-challenged condition for the purpose of competition, recreation, and physical & emotional rehabilitation. NAOAGA organizes local, regional, national, and international competitions such as this 2019 Annual Meeting & Championships in  Palm Bay, Florida for its membership, seeks opportunities to educate the public on the existence and benefits of "one-armed golf," and strives to provide a forum for emotional support and discussion of pertinent issues related to living with an upper-extremity disability.

100% of your kind donation will be directed towards supporting NAOAGA's critical mission. More information can be found on our website which I manage, at www.naoaga.org.

Thank you... and Never Quit!

~ Musa

Stroke Survivor: My Three New Years - 7th Year Strokeversary Edition

Stroke Survivor: My Three New Years - 7th Year Strokeversary Edition

This is an update to the first 3 notes I first wrote about on Facebook in 2014, 2016 and 2017. My

“Three New Years” all occur in January. They are the traditional New Year, my birthday, and my stroke anniversary, a.k.a. strokeversary or re-birthday - on the 1st, 6th, and 20th of January respectively.

1) On the first day of the year on the modern day Gregorian calendar, I joined billions around the world in that ritual of shedding the old, while welcoming the new. As usual, I had many blessings to count - including life and limb; health and wellness. I had a roof over my head, nourishment, access to many luxuries and a job to help provide those things. More than most, I enjoy the love of family and the support of friends. As in recent years, I committed to 4 New Year's resolutions:

• Renewed focus on health and wellness (committing to try and lose 7-10 pounds this year by increasing my exercise levels and better managing my nutrition).
• Helping others by volunteering, paying forward my blessings, mentoring others, and spreading the word about health and wellness.
• Becoming better organized by being punctual, organizing my physical spaces, and decluttering my mind.
• Committing to self-development by learning new subjects, becoming better at learning Spanish, acquiring new skills, and exploring / mapping out an educational program that leads to a terminal degree. I am also in the process of writing 3 books, and hope to complete at least one of them this year.

I've struggled with the 3rd the most, but I'm glad I bit the bullet last year and learned about decluttering from Marie Kondo, conducted a decluttering session with the lady who now cleans my home monthly, and her husband, and maintained my home to the point where I became a first time Airbnb Superhost.

2) On January 6th, I celebrated my second New Year. Being so close to the more

popular New Year, it's always offered me an opportunity to re-calibrate the commitments I made five days earlier. This also marked the 20th anniversary of my dear Mommy’s calling to be with the Lord. It offered yet another opportunity to reflect upon the values she instilled upon her seven sons, and the example she set by her faith, words and deeds. As I remember the eulogy I gave at her funeral in 1999, some of the lasting memories I recall were that of her selflessness in serving those who were less fortunate than her. She was a devoted member of the St. Piran's Church (Jos, Plateau State) Choir, served her country on a major Nigerian financial services board - National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND), regularly visited prisons, helped beleaguered women and children, helped countless relatives, housegirls and houseboys (household help) attend school and establish meaningful careers, volunteered with the Red Cross, serving as Plateau State Chair, chaperoned many a young bride through the protocols of her wedding day, child birth and child-rearing, all the while regularly giving to the needy - Christian and Moslem alike. She was absolutely the best mother in the world, bar none!

3)

I finish writing this as my beloved New England Patriots have just played in their 8th straight AFC Championship game in football, and having won, are headed to our 4th Superbowl in 5 years. Talk about perseverance and a culture of excellence. This evening 7 years ago on what would have been my late brother Yakubu's 45th birthday, I suffered a cerebrovascular accident (CVA), a.k.a "Stroke" after arriving home from work. 2 years ago, I mustered the courage to visit Norwood Hospital to obtain records of my hospitalization, so I could better understand what I presented at the ER. Without going into too much boring detail, I was a 41 year old "Nigerian/African/young/pleasant male" (yes, these were all descriptions in the notes) with no history other than GI disease. I was a social drinker, and a pack-a-day (conservatively, I’d say) smoker). It was noted that I had a family history of stroke, given that Dada (my dad) had suffered a stroke (in Jos, Nigeria) at age 54, from which he never recovered, dying 3 days later. Additional history that I reported noted also that mommy had died (also in Jos, Nigeria) at age 57 from a brain tumor, and that our youngest brother Timothy also had been diagnosed with a brain tumor (which was successfully surgically treated in London in December, 2008). We thank Almighty God every day for Timothy’s life, and for the intervention of our late Aunt Elizabeth Pam in helping to ensure that he received the very best care befitting of her late little sister’s “baby.”

The official cause of my stroke? It wasn’t immediately apparent. I was transported by the Walpole Fire Department Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and presented at the Norwood Hospital ER between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m., having called EMS to report that I felt I was having a stroke. In the ER, I exhibited signs of a right brain stroke, with left side weakness ranked on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) scale as a 2.0, which was relatively low. I had demonstrated some strength in my left lower extremities, as well as my left upper extremities. This development, along with the time that had elapsed, essentially took me outside the window for administration of TPA, a clot-busting drug administered to stroke patients within 3 hours or so of showing stroke symptoms. The ER physician and the on-call neurologist consulted with the Stroke Team at Boston’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital where I’d been a patient, and the determination was that outside of the time period, TPA administration would be considered “off-label use.” After an initial set of lab and radiological exams, I was administered Aspirin, Lisinopril and Simvastatin (drugs that act as a blood thinner, high blood pressure treatment, and cholesterol lowering respectively), then admitted into the Cardiology Unit 33 for ongoing observation and telemetry. Thereafter, by 5 a.m., I’d gotten worse, losing all movement in both my upper and lower extremities, but “there was nothing the could do.”

It took a while thereafter following an X-Ray, CT-Scan, MRI, and finally a transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) on the second day at Norwood Hospital, to determine the official cause of my stroke. The TEE confirmed a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO), also known as a hole in the heart as the cause. We’re all born with one, but it closes naturally in about 90% of the population (read more from my note “We Are the 10%” here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/musa...). My PFO remained open, and thus allowed a blood clot to travel to my brain, bypassing the lungs and causing a clot in a part of my brain called Corona Radiata. My dad, a.k.a. Dada suffered a similar fate in March 1989, but sadly, did not make it. This is why when I took a nap after experiencing stroke symptoms that I hadn't recognized, I believe HE woke me up and guided me to call 911 from my home phone (enabling paramedics to immediately ascertain my address without me having to talk much). For this reason, I consider myself as having received a new lease on life on January 20th, 2012. I've chronicled my journey towards recovery on social media spaces, and appreciate all the words of encouragement and offers of support from one and all as you’ve tolerated all my posts and updates.

This year in particular, I want to continue to bust the myth of the 2-Year Plateau when it comes to Stroke recovery. It refers to the notion that one gains as much movement and function in 2 years, as one is going to get, and then one hits a plateau. Nothing tangible supposedly comes after this. This proud stroke survivor and son of Plateau State, Nigeria says “No Can Do!” to that, and Amen to God’s miracles in my life that have seen me through one adversity after another, given me the will to live and love, and enabled me to spread the word and hopefully helping others along the way.

Since my stroke, I’ve been blessed with having recorded the following highlights/improvements, thanks to the incredible help and support of my healthcare providers, family and friends who pushed me and cheered me on. To able-bodied folks, these may seem like nothing, but to a stroke survivor coping with disability or facing uncertainty, they can mean a lot:

• Improved my core strength, leg strength, and arm strength
• Lost 65-80lbs since my stroke
• Vastly improved on my Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)
• Logged my food and beverage caloric intake on Myfitnesspal for 1,923 straight days
• Visited and worked out at the Answer is Fitness - Foxboro, MA gym over 700 times since my stroke
• Opening the refrigerator and round door knobs in the house using only my left hand
• Effortlessly cutting/chopping vegetables on a cutting board, without assistance.
• Operating the windshield wiper and turn signals in my car with my left hand
• Able to bench press weights
• Reached and exceeded a personal best of 100 pushups https://www.facebook.com/musa.pam/v...
• Reached a personal milestone of 4.2 mph on the treadmill at the gym https://www.facebook.com/musa.pam/v...
• Installed two window air conditioners mostly one handed, amongst other home improvement projects
• Became champion of the Sanders (Net) Division in the 2017 North American One Armed Golfers Association (NAOAGA) Golf Tournament, in MI, whose motto is “Never Quit!”
• Named 2017 Massachusetts Maritime Academy Alumnus of the Year.
• Recorded over 100 patient visits of fellow stroke survivors as a peer visitor at Boston’s famed Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital where I was a patient
• Played in my alumni soccer games at my alma mater, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
• Received 16 rounds of quarterly Botox injections over 4 years to help combat muscular stiffness or spasticity on my left side before discontinuing

         Twitter: @survivedstroke

    Instagram: @onearmedgolfchamp