CLINTON Alonna Dukeman was not one to sit.
I always need something to do, the 59-year-old rural Clinton resident said.
On the table in front of her were trays of cinnamon rolls and candies that she baked that morning. She spoke in a home that she and her fiance, Ron Deatrick, transformed from a farmhouse to a showpiece, including doors with stained-glass windows suspended from the dining room ceiling.
There was no stopping me, she said. A co-worker called her Indy 500.
Not anymore.
As Dukeman motioned with her right arm, her left arm hung at her side. As she walked slowly, she concentrated so her left leg wouldnt drag behind her right leg.
Ive learned that if youre going to do anything, its slow, she said. This was the hardest thing for me.
Dukeman had a stroke on May 21, 2012. But shes doing OK, she said last week, and not only because of post-stroke rehabilitation, her exercises and Deatricks support.
About a year ago, she and Deatrick began attending meetings of the Stroke/Brain Injury Support Group of the Bloomington-Normal Area. She learned she was not alone.
Ive learned that I cant dwell on what I used to do, she said. Ive learned to be proud of whatever I can do.
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