This Heart Month, stroke survivor, Manuel Vera reunites with his life-saving stroke and rehabilitation team a year later

It has been a year since Manuel Vera, known as “Manny” survived an ischemic stroke on Feb. 23, 2024. Vera quickly received a clot-busting medication, tenectaplase, a  life-saving stroke treatment within 25 minutes of arriving at HCA Florida Brandon Hospital, a Comprehensive Stroke Center.

Following his stroke care, Vera was moved to the hospital’s inpatient rehabilitation center to continue his recovery. When physical therapist, Heather Burk heard about  Vera’s daughter’s upcoming wedding, dancing was integrated into his rehabilitation goals.

Vera will reunite with this amazing care team inside the inpatient rehabilitation center at Brandon Hospital on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025 at 11 a.m.. The community will gather for this beautiful reunion and hear about the life-saving efforts of Brandon Hospital’s stroke team who responded that day, as well as the efforts of the inpatient rehabilitation team. For the first time together, Manuel and Brandon Hospital caregivers will see the video of Vera and his daughter, Nermais dancing at her wedding.

“We create patient-centered goals upon evaluation, and Manny expressed his goal to be there for his daughter on her wedding day,” shared Burk, a physical therapist at Brandon Hospital. “I love to use dance as balance therapy. So, I asked him if he planned to dance at the wedding. He then proceeded to tell me how dancing merengue and other styles with his daughter was a tradition.”

He returned home after the completion of his tailored rehabilitation treatment in 17 days. In August of 2024, Vera had the honor of walking his daughter, Nermais, down the aisle and dancing the merengue on her wedding day. His dreams were realized through his hard work and the support of the Brandon Hospital rehabilitation team.

Brandon Hospital’s inpatient rehabilitation discharges 86% of its patients to return to their homes, compared to 78.9% in the state of Florida and 77.7% in the country. Patients can resume their lives and continue to heal and recover versus moving to another skilled nursing facility.

Speaking at the reunion:

Manuel Vera, Stroke survivor
Megan Rizer, stroke nurse practitioner
Heather Burk, physical therapist
Tripp Owings, CEO, HCA Florida Brandon Hospital 

Media are invited to witness the moment Manuel Vera reunites with his support team in HCA Florida Brandon Hospital’s inpatient rehabilitation center, as well as hear from the stroke team that responded that day.