“I’m a miracle,” asserts 68-year-old Willie Lockett of Nettleton.

On Nov. 6, 2023, Willie was working as a deputy sheriff when he went home to eat breakfast and started having issues. He was rushed to North Mississippi Medical Center Gilmore-Amory with a blood pressure of 289/169. In the ER, he began experiencing symptoms of atrial fibrillation (rapid, irregular heart rhythm) and ischemic stroke (which occurs when a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain is obstructed).

He spent nine days in the Intensive Care Unit in Amory before transferring to NMMC-Tupelo for a cardiac ablation procedure to correct his heart rhythm. While in Tupelo, he suffered a second stroke—this one a hemorrhagic stroke, which occurs when a weakened blood vessel ruptures.

“The bleed on my brain was so severe, I shouldn’t even be alive,” Willie says. Without the expertise and quick action of neurosurgeon Dr. Carl Bevering and team, he might not have fared as well.

The second stroke left Willie with several deficits on his left side. The left side of his face drooped, and his speech was slurred. His left arm and leg were weak and uncoordinated, and his balance was impaired.

As soon as he was well enough, Willie transferred to NMMC’s Rehabilitation Institute for several hours of daily physical, occupational and speech therapy. He worked hard with therapists there until Dec. 5 when he was discharged home.

Three days later, he followed up with his primary care clinic, where an EKG (which checks heart rhythm) and his blood pressure were both found to be normal. Willie and his wife left the doctor’s office and stopped to get a sandwich.

“We made our order and while we were standing in line, I passed out,” Willie says. They called 9-1-1, and an ambulance took me back to the ER at NMMC in Tupelo.” A few weeks later, he had a pacemaker installed to regulate his heart rhythm.

Willie launched the New Year with a month of therapy at NMMC Gilmore-Amory’s Outpatient Rehabilitation Center. “Mr. Lockett told us he was very passionate about running and working out with others at the Sheriff’s Department, so his physical therapy focused on getting him back to that,” says physical therapist Kelly Young. “We worked to strengthen his core, hips and legs. We also worked on balance training and cardiovascular endurance.”

“I did outpatient therapy with the best group of therapists in north Mississippi,” Willie says. “I thank the Lord, the therapists and everyone who prayed for my well-being. May God bless you all.”