Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
Sweet sounds emanate from the stage, accompanied by giant smiles from the musicians.
In the center of it all are Glexey Caraballo and Cathy Garrett.
A casual bystander would never know the musicians are an eclectic group of stroke survivors, each with their own abilities and story.
For Caraballo, this is his first time performing with STROKESTRA®, a stroke rehabilitation program directed by Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in partnership with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and AdventHealth.
STROKESTRA® is a rehabilitation program utilizing creative music-making as part of a formal clinical recovery program that drives patient-led recovery through creative music-making group workshops. The performance was a prescription from Caraballo’s occupational therapist at AdventHealth University’s Hope Clinic.
Caraballo was paying bills online in his room one evening in 2018 when he began vomiting and having convulsions. He was having a brain hemorrhage that would leave him with severe aphasia (language impairment), the inability to walk and one arm distorted. After emergency surgery to drain the hemorrhage, he spent several weeks at the hospital in rehabilitation therapy.
Following discharge, Glexey used at-home therapists for several weeks, but insurance was eventually suspended.
Around five years ago, Caraballo’s father learned about Hope Clinic and Caraballo began receiving treatment there two to three days a week.
Hope Clinic provides free physical therapy, occupational therapy, and cardiac rehabilitation to those who are uninsured and underinsured. Clinicians, professors, and supervised students in AdventHealth University’s physical therapy and occupational therapy programs treat clients.
“Everyone here has given him encouragement and support. They work with a lot of love and patience,” said Caraballo’s mother, Elena “Meibol” Caraballo.
Caraballo can now walk independently, his arm has become extended and he can speak a couple of words. Olga Melnik, OTR/L, director of Hope Clinic utilized Caraballo’s love of music to challenge his brain, introducing him to the adaptive flute. He can play for three to five minutes before needing to rest.
“He was a musician since he was little,” said Caraballo’s mother. “This is something for him to feel more involved and included.”
Caraballo is not alone in this feeling of inclusion. This year’s performance at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts is Garrett’s second stint with STROKESTRA®.
Overdue to deliver her second daughter, Garrett suffered an extremely rare amniotic fluid embolism in 2019. She fell into a coma and endured seven surgical procedures. Garrett’s baby, named Chloe, was delivered by emergency Cesarean section and spent time in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Babies born to mothers who’ve had an amniotic embolism have an 80% chance of surviving, and mothers have only a 40% chance of survival after an embolism like this. Chloe beat the odds. Garrett, however, was still struggling.
After her second surgery and a process called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, commonly known as ECMO, there was nothing more the doctors could do.
Garrett suffered a basal ganglia stroke as well as compartment syndrome, clots causing blockages and swelling. Clinicians even discussed a possible leg amputation.
“My husband could see I was really tired and ready to give up, so he brought Chloe in,” said Garrett, who ended up waking from her coma on Day 9.
Alert and grateful to be alive, Garrett had a long journey ahead. She had trouble walking and speaking, and had retrograde amnesia — causing her to not remember anything from the month leading up to her embolism.
After recovering for 25 days at AdventHealth Orlando, she was transferred to AdventHealth Winter Park for eight days of rehabilitation.
Her discharge from the hospital seemed like the freedom she so badly desired. That’s when her doctor told her this would be a lifelong illness. Following inpatient rehabilitation, she actively participated in at-home rehabilitation.
In 2021, after Medicaid was limiting the amount of therapy Garrett could receive, she discovered Hope Clinic and began cardiac rehabilitation five days a week.
“The Hope Clinic is really a family. They see me as a person, not a patient,” said Garrett.
Today, Garrett can drive a car for about 35 minutes without resting and can focus on reading a book for about 20 minutes. She is tremendously grateful for the progress she has made and for the opportunity to perform with Caraballo in STROKESTRA®.
“I think finding other stroke survivors and finding community is what makes STROKESTRA® so special. Recovery can be lonely. The orchestra opened a whole new world to me,” said Garrett.
Caraballo plays the drums and Garret plays the vibraphone. The musicians, with the help of AdventHealth clinicians, practice twice a week for three months, culminating in a show for the community. The program, started in 2022 with about 15 stroke survivors, has grown to about 30. One highlight of the 2025 concert was a song titled “Si Si Mejor,” specially created for the only two words Caraballo is able to speak.
Si means “yes” and mejor means “better” or “best” — symbols of the endless optimism, strength, and purpose that stroke and embolism survivors display each day. To learn more about or become part of STROKESTRA®, visit the orchestra’s website site at DrPhillipsCenter.org/Education/Community-Outreach/Strokestra.
AdventHealth University | January 2026
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