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It happened on a Sunday morning at the end of April. Greg Willis rolled out of bed at around 9 a.m. and just kept going until he hit the floor.
"I couldn't stand up. I couldn't say words."
Patty Birchard, his girlfriend, tried to help. "He tried to get up and get dressed, and he couldn't." That's when she called her dad. He had a van. They would need to use it to get Willis to a hospital.
Willis spent the next three days at Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest. After, he was transferred to a physical rehab center near Alvarado Hospital for another two weeks. Therapists there helped him to learn how to walk, talk, and dress himself all over again.
Greg Willis had had a stroke, one that severely affected the left side of his body.
"It could have been a lot worse," he says by phone from the University Heights apartment he shares with Birchard. "I'm starting to get most of it back," he says, sounding exhausted by the effort just to form words.
"But I can't play bass worth a shit right now."
Greg Willis' history as a bass player goes back decades in San Diego. He first rose to fame as one-half of the rhythm section behind Iron Butterfly (Jack Pinney played drums,) a band that started in San Diego before moving north to Los Angeles. Later, Willis and Pinney would reunite in another local band called Glory, and then the Shames, both of which featured a young guitar slinger named Jerry Raney.
Willis, 63, also played in the King Biscuit Blues band and in the Mississippi Mudsharks before delving into a career as a side man that saw his familiar overall-clad figure on stage with dozens of local artists.
Now, he sees doctors every two weeks. They monitor his physical progress and they keep tabs on his high blood pressure, thought to have been the cause of the stroke.
"I didn't have any idea I had high blood pressure," he says. "I'm completely surprised." Willis was able to secure low-income health insurance about one month before the stroke. But, he has no income at all. He can't play bass, and he can't work, and he's not entirely sure when he will be able to either.
"I've tried to play and I can't. I miss it," he says. "Very much."
Birchard says Willis' doctors expect a complete recovery but so far have given no idea of a time frame. The problem continues to be his left hand, his fingering hand.
"They don't know when I'll be able to play again," Willis says. "They say everybody's different."
Monday Sept 3 Chet Cannon will host a Greg Willis benefit concert at Humphreys
Sunday Oct.28 Costume party and Greg Willis benefit concert featuring a reunion of San Diego bands from the '60s and '70s. Moose Lodge, 9062 Memory Lane, Spring Valley, 91977 info 619-464-1492
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/jul/25/28541/
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/jul/25/28542/
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/jul/25/28543/
It happened on a Sunday morning at the end of April. Greg Willis rolled out of bed at around 9 a.m. and just kept going until he hit the floor.
"I couldn't stand up. I couldn't say words."
Patty Birchard, his girlfriend, tried to help. "He tried to get up and get dressed, and he couldn't." That's when she called her dad. He had a van. They would need to use it to get Willis to a hospital.
Willis spent the next three days at Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest. After, he was transferred to a physical rehab center near Alvarado Hospital for another two weeks. Therapists there helped him to learn how to walk, talk, and dress himself all over again.
Greg Willis had had a stroke, one that severely affected the left side of his body.
"It could have been a lot worse," he says by phone from the University Heights apartment he shares with Birchard. "I'm starting to get most of it back," he says, sounding exhausted by the effort just to form words.
"But I can't play bass worth a shit right now."
Greg Willis' history as a bass player goes back decades in San Diego. He first rose to fame as one-half of the rhythm section behind Iron Butterfly (Jack Pinney played drums,) a band that started in San Diego before moving north to Los Angeles. Later, Willis and Pinney would reunite in another local band called Glory, and then the Shames, both of which featured a young guitar slinger named Jerry Raney.
Willis, 63, also played in the King Biscuit Blues band and in the Mississippi Mudsharks before delving into a career as a side man that saw his familiar overall-clad figure on stage with dozens of local artists.
Now, he sees doctors every two weeks. They monitor his physical progress and they keep tabs on his high blood pressure, thought to have been the cause of the stroke.
"I didn't have any idea I had high blood pressure," he says. "I'm completely surprised." Willis was able to secure low-income health insurance about one month before the stroke. But, he has no income at all. He can't play bass, and he can't work, and he's not entirely sure when he will be able to either.
"I've tried to play and I can't. I miss it," he says. "Very much."
Birchard says Willis' doctors expect a complete recovery but so far have given no idea of a time frame. The problem continues to be his left hand, his fingering hand.
"They don't know when I'll be able to play again," Willis says. "They say everybody's different."
Monday Sept 3 Chet Cannon will host a Greg Willis benefit concert at Humphreys
Sunday Oct.28 Costume party and Greg Willis benefit concert featuring a reunion of San Diego bands from the '60s and '70s. Moose Lodge, 9062 Memory Lane, Spring Valley, 91977 info 619-464-1492
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/jul/25/28541/
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/jul/25/28542/
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/jul/25/28543/