Gay journalist and poet David Herkt has spoken out about his road to recovery after a severe stroke, and his partner's total support. Stroke recovery: David Herkt Herkt, a past editor of Express newspaper, researcher for the Queer Nation TV series and an on-going contributor to GayNZ.com has described his stroke last November as "a big white blast" in his brain which left him unable to walk or speak. He told Radio New Zealand's Kathryn Ryan yesterday that his partner, John, stood by him even during the darkest times. "I sat there thinking he was going to be stuck with someone's who's useless," Herkt recalled. "So I plucked myself up to have this big conversation with him saying 'I'll understand if you want to leave me.' And he just laughed. I'll always remember that." Herkt's recovery this year has been steady, with his mobility, speech and memory functions now almost completely returned. Following the news of musician Chris Knox's stroke last month, Herkt wrote about his experiences for the Public Address website. Kathryn Ryan's interview with David Herkt on Radio New Zealand National is available to download as an MP3 on the link below.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Tuesday, 7th July 2009 - 11:14pm