Cedar Springs man left partially paralyzed uses childhood hobby as therapy

By Madison Bennett | MLive

As a child, Greg Koomen did not know his love for building model cars would become anything more than a hobby.

But years later, after having suffered a stroke at 41 years of age, Koomen became paralyzed on the right side of his body. He now uses the hobby he picked up as a child as a form of both physical and mental therapy.

Koomen, of Cedar Springs, is a veteran of the Marines and had been a mechanic by trade for most of his life, doing the work for both a living and for fun in his spare time.

On Aug. 7, 2000, he left his job working as a mechanic at a local electric company in Kent City to grab coffee with a friend when part of his face began drooping. Koomen's friend, who happened to be a paramedic, recognized the signs and realized he was having a stroke.

"It turned our whole world upside down for a while," his daughter Tanya Stuk said.

In addition to Koomen's stroke, his father was in the hospital at the time as well getting tests in preparation for open heart surgery. In order to keep his stress levels down, Koomen's family was told not to tell his father about the stroke he had suffered.

"He was having a test and they actually brought Greg in at the same time with his stroke," his sister Cindy Koomen said.

"So that was really something. We'd go from across the hall, one side to the other, and we couldn't tell dad."

Koomen spent months in the hospital recovering and as someone who had been so used to working with his hands, now had to adjust to having function in only just one. He was also left with limited speaking ability.

Koomen's wife, Christine, suggested he pick up the hobby once again. "I thought it'd be a good form of therapy," she said.

The meticulous work not only helped him to keep his mind off of the situation, but build up eye-hand coordination and become dominant with his left hand, according to Stuk.

Now, nearly 17 years later, Koomen has built 61 model cars.

Each model takes Koomen anywhere from three to four weeks to build and according to family members, he spends much of his time doing so.

"Every time I come home he's still sitting there at the table doing his model until like 10 or 11 at night," Jennifer Koomen, his youngest daughter, said. "It's very time-consuming, just for somebody with two hands."

Koomen also still attempts to help family with repairs on their cars, his family said.

His daughters, so inspired by their father, shared his story with one of his favorite model car brands, Revell-Monogram.

The company shared in his daughters' sentiment and sent him a free model to build.

Speaking with the help of his family, Koomen said finishing each model leaves him feeling accomplished.

"(I'm) proud of him, I get all teary," Stuk said. 

This post originally appeared June 5, 2017 on MLive.com.