Stroke victim Sylvain Chiasson, 53, has been stuck in the hospital since before the holidays but fellow patient Barbara Robin said they were able to make the best of it.
Robin, a Prince George resident, had to have emergency surgery and was airlifted to Vancouver General to fix a brain bleed recently. Upon her return to the University Hospital of Northern BC, she was greeted by Sylvain’s smiling face when she went into the rehabilitation services unit that is helping with her recovery.
“There was Sylvain sitting with a big box of coffee, next thing you know he said ‘would you like a cup of coffee?’ and I said ‘oh sure, that would be lovely,’ and then we got to talking and he’s been doing this every day since he’s been here.”
Chiasson came from New Brunswick to Prince George to work in the forest industry.
About four weeks ago he had a stroke and has been in the hospital ever since.
He said he wanted to see some smiles in the Rehab Unit and that’s why he decided to bring coffee every morning.
“People are pretty happy here when they see me in the morning,” he said.
Sylvain said he doesn’t have any family with him in Prince George so he thought he’d make the best of it by bringing a little cheer into the unit every morning to start the day off right.
“It’s tough not having family here but there are good people here and they are helping me,” he said.
“They are really good to me here. My whole right side doesn’t work and I am in a wheelchair for now.”
He is determined to make a full recovery, he added.
“It’s just going to take time,” he said.
Meanwhile he’ll keep bringing everyone coffee to brighten up their day.
