"Welcome to support group...my name is Larry and I am your official greeter." 

Learning how to facilitate a support group using Zoom was not an easy task for anyone at AHIF.  For starters…the “start time” seemed to just be a suggestion.  Our support groups typically start at 1:00 p.m., but it is usually 1:10 p.m. before things really get going.  After just a few sessions…something interesting started to occur.  Instead of AHIF staff welcoming everyone to the group…we noticed that Larry, an AHIF client from southwest Alabama, had taken over the job…greeting each guest personally, asking them how they were, and making them feel uniquely welcome to our support group.

In this video, Larry discusses his connection to AHIF's support groups

Larry is actively seeking to return to work and, more than anything, his long-term goal is to use his positive spirit and his story of survival and recovery to become a motivational speaker.  If his ability to lift the spirits of each AHIF staff member, and all the other attendees of our support group, is any indication then he is destined for a long and successful career. 

Larry had a blood clot removed due to a massive subdural hematoma when he was eleven years old.  After the surgery, he had to relearn everything all over again…including how to walk, use his hands, talk, feed himself, etc.  It also led to him dealing with speech paralysis for over 20 years. 
When you meet him, and ask him how he is, you better be ready with your thesaurus to look up the words he shares to describe how he is doing.  The one thing you can know for sure is that each of the words will be something positive…because…above all…Larry is a positive person.  Just being around him makes you feel better about yourself…and life in general.

In this video, Larry discusses his participation in UAB's We Can Do It Program