Hey all...
Operating on the assumption that the vast majority of you here don't know me personally, a little bit of back story:
On August 16th, Charlie (my partner of 16 years) suffered a major left-hemisphere stroke completely out of the blue. Doctors cannot figure out why it happened, but happen it did. This has left one of the most eloquent, intelligent, well-spoken people I know (yea, I may be biased, but it's still true) with some rather severe effects. He's partially paralyzed -though he's slowly regaining usage of his leg and upper right arm- but more impaired are his abilities to read, write, and speak. While his intelligence is still the same as it ever was, due to the aphasia, he can only form a few *very* basic sentences that he uses every day ("Tie my shoes" or "I'm hungry" and the like), and his capacity to read has regressed to that of a toddler or younger. This is also progressing, but in three months we've only reached a level of maybe 20-25 words that he can pick out on his own, as well as some random sentences.
For someone who greatly enjoys reading, I'm sure you can imagine how frustrating this is... and add on top of that he's quite simply bored! He's used to being independent, of occupying his spare time on his own via assorted means (most of which have been taken from him due to the paralysis).... one of those means was comic books.
So! What I'm looking for are recommendations for comics/TPBs/etc that are either completely "silent" that he can "read" in his off-time (keep in mind that even trying to read physically tires him out, and we practice for several hours a day, so down-time should be just that... down time) or for comics that have very little dialogue.
As an aside, another unfortunate "side effect" of all of this has been that I've had to leave my employment as Charlie needs someone with him 24/7, so we've gone from a two-income household to a zero-income household... as medical bills continue to pile up. Six days in ICU, a month in the hospital, followed by nine therapy sessions a week (roughly $900 each week) that continue to today and will continue for the next three-five months at least. To say that we're financially strapped would be an understatement.
To assist with these bills/expenses, our friends -many of whom are artists- contributed work for a benefit store on Etsy. Feel free to stop by https://www.etsy.com/shop/CharliesSpot and do some holidaze shopping!
Or, if you care to do so, a direct donation site has been set up at the following: http://www.gofundme.com/3z1cgk
Our thanks,
Judah
