Hi!! Welcome to my bio page. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Perry Thomas Stevens; I am named after both of my grandfathers. I am 53 years old. I am a member and deacon at Fairview Baptist Church, where I have attended all my life. I am a 1976 graduate of Fairview High School.

On June 2, 1979 I married Myra Franklin from Boyd Co. we'll not hold that against her though. She was a member at Rose Hill Baptist and when we married she came to Fairview where at the time I was the youth director. On a very cold and blizzardy Jan. 9, 1982 our son Andrew Thomas was born. We all call him Drew for short or Drewby. Then on a very sunny June 3, 1985 our daughter Rebekah Leah was born. We call her Bekah or Boo for short. Both of our children have been raised in church and I like to think a good Christian home. We have tried our best to raise them, as God would see fit. They are both Christians and we are very proud of them. We have had a very good life, always a good job, wonderful friends, and nice home. God truly has blessed us over the past few years.          

I played softball, went to the "Y" to play basketball and golfed. Over the years I have coached baseball, boys and girls basketball, Westwood Boys Club football, even helped try to coach soccer even though I didn't have a clue what I was doing and I have been the voice of the Fairview Eagles in football and basketball for over 12 years before my stroke. My one great joy was teaching my College and Careers Sunday School class. I really love teaching and digging into the Bible. They all seemed to really enjoy it also. Ish Stevens and I team taught the last several years due to my work schedule. It really worked out well because he loves them as much as I do, he would call them our babies. Life was treating us good wouldn't you say.         

Christmas Eve 2000, as usual we went to the Church for the candlelight Lord's Supper. This is a very special service at our church. I can't explain it, but the Lord was really dealing with me. I cried uncontrollably and felt extremely close to the Lord that evening. Afterwards we went to Myra's parents home for Christmas Eve dinner and gift opening. The whole family except me had the stomach flu earlier that week. While at my in-laws I started feeling really crummy. I had to leave I was getting sick, they all stayed to finish opening gifts. By the time everyone came home I had the stomach flu. I laid down and went to bed and Myra went downstairs to sleep so I could rest. Christmas morning Bekah came upstairs to the restroom and found me. I told her I needed Mom. She yelled for Myra, she came to see what I needed. I told her I felt really bad, my tongue felt thick, and I was tingling on my right side. She tried to call the doctor and hospital but she was put on hold. She decided to take me to the emergency room. When I tried to get up I couldn't walk I was too weak. I fell in the floor. Myra called an ambulance to come and get me. She said that at this point she wasn't really scared because the EMT's said all my vitals were good. They took my sugar level and it was low. They assumed I may be severely dehydrated and took me to the hospital. She told Bekah to call her parents and the prayer chain.       

Once at the hospital I was given a check up. All my vitals were normal, they did a cat scan and it showed nothing abnormal. The blood work all came back fine except I was dehydrated and my sugar was a little low. The nurse asked me what had happened and I told him my mother in-law poisoned me at dinner. Henry my father in-law was there and he said "I didn't help cook". Mildred and Leshia, Myra's mom and sister, came down to the hospital to make sure things were OK. Myra told them to go on to her grandfather's house out of town they were just going to keep me for some observation for a little while. She told her sister to go on home; she had a long drive to Atlanta. So we set back, I was very sleepy because of the phenegren they had given me.         

Myra said all of a sudden I started to throw up again and she couldn't get me to wake up. She yelled for help, afraid I was going to aspirate on it. Bubba, a friend of ours was there, he came in then yelled for help. Within seconds she said they called code blue and she was shoved to the hall.          

Several minutes later a doctor came out and asked her how often I had seizures. She told them never. The doctor told them they weren't sure what was going on and wanted to admit me. She said she would never forget the word she used, they were all 'perplexed' and were going to call a neurologist.         

Lisa Rice came to see if I was OK. She stayed with Myra while they were getting a room ready. They even said they were making fun of me the way I was snoring so loud. When they put me in my room, they were feeling sorry for the man in the other bed. Lisa went to get them something to drink.

When she returned the neurologist was with Myra. He asked her how long I had been breathing like that. She told him I always snored. He told her I wasn't snoring that it was labored breathing and he was 99% sure I had a brainstem stroke. He then yelled for the nurse to get me to ICU STAT!!