That was over three years ago. Pliner, described by those who know him as a “true Iowa man,” has since regained some ability to both walk and talk.

His progress has been described as “exceptional,” by those who have provided therapy.

Pliner, 52, grew up on a farm south of Fort Dodge. He attended Community Christian School in Fort Dodge and later Prairie Valley High School in Gowrie.

Pliner’s caregiver is his wife, Kate. The two live in Ankeny, but the home they are renting doesn’t meet their needs. The couple is hoping to build a basic handicap accessible home that would better accomodate them.

“We just want to go home so we can be close to family,” said Kate Pliner, who has been married to Chris Pliner for about eight years. “We came to Ankeny for rehabilitation but Chris is a farm boy and we want him to be back in the country. We are homesick.”

The couple has a piece of property near Gowrie where they plan to build. Kate Pliner said the couple is looking to build a very basic home. However, speech therapy and medical supply expenses, much of which is not covered by insurance, have made it difficult to make that a reality.

The new home will need to feature an attached garage and a zero entry shower.

“It’s going to be a modest garage and handicap accessible home on a slab,” Kate Pliner said.

Kenny Streit, Scott Enquist and Dan Rasmussen have made it possible for the build to happen when funds are available, she said. Chris’s sons, Alex and Ethan, will be bringing clay for the project. Chris also has a third son, Brady.

BEFORE CHRIS PLINER’S STROKE, he had been taking his wife to hospitals throughout the Midwest as she had become ill.

“I had been sick for a year and a half and we didn’t know why and come to find out we had mold in our house,” Kate Pliner said. “Before his stroke he took me all over, to Missouri and to Mayo Clinic and finally my sister said, ‘Do you have mold in your house?’

“He took me to a doctor in Missouri and found out my body was full of mold and needed to get out of the house and while we were figuring that out and he had a massive stroke. I had been through treatment. My immune system couldn’t fight being in a mold environment because of the HLR-DR gene.”

Near the end of 2017, Chris Pliner was experiencing headaches.

“He had been working under a semi,” Kate Pliner recalled. “He was under there with his arms up in the air for three hours. He said he had the worst headache, went in and laid down. He was feeling better, then a few days later he started not feeling so good again.”

On New Year’s Eve, Chris Pliner thought he was having another migraine.

On Jan. 1, 2018, he suffered a stroke. His sons found him in his office. Chris Pliner was taken by ambulance to UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center before being flown to Iowa City. He spent 22 days in the Intensive Care Unit. He has had several surgeries and was transferred to On With Life Rehabilitation Center in Ankeny on Jan. 23 of that year.

Kate Pliner was facing the possibility that her husband may never be able to speak with her again.

“My heart was broken,” she said. “They said there was nothing they could do to intervene. They ended up having to cut out part of his skull.

“All those doctors at Iowa City were trying to tell me he had a 2 percent chance. That he won’t get any better. I prayed and felt God telling me to keep going.”

After his stroke, Kate Pliner said the couple had to leave their home.

“After Chris’s stroke we lost our home,” she said. “We’ve lost everything. We’ve had to start completly over.”

Chris Pliner has had three brain surgeries, Kate Pliner said.

THROUGH THERAPY, Chris Pliner now has the ability to walk with assistance a few times a day.

“He has a lot of therapy to go to and a long journey of rehabilitation ahead of him,” Kate Pliner said.

For the past four months, Chris Pliner has been working with Mark Ittleman, an out-of-state speech language pathologist.

When speech therapy began, Chris Pliner was completely nonverbal, according to Ittleman.

“Most clinicians or therapists, if they saw a patient like Chris, they would say, ‘there’s nothing I can do for you — you’ll never talk again,'” Ittleman said. “But I’ve been doing apraxia speech therapy for 50 years. He was completely nonverbal and he went to a therapist that basically just wrote him off.”

But Kate Pliner didn’t give up. She found out about Ittleman’s work and arranged for sessions with Chris Pliner. The three meet twice a week for about 45 minutes each session.

Her role is just as important as Ittleman’s.

“I’ve been training Chris and Katie and Kate does the therapy at chairside and I am right there on the iPad,” Ittleman said. “I show Kate exactly what to do, then I watch her do it. And if there’s anything I think she could do that would get the results faster, I have her modify what she is doing so we get the result we want.”

Ittleman described both Chris and Kate as “amazing.”

Ittleman said Chris Pliner experiences both apraxia and aphasia.

“I learned that he has not only an apraxia which is an inability to move the tongue but he also has an aphasia — it’s like an amnesia for words,” Ittleman said. “This is when you want to say something and you can’t say it. It’s not there. It might be in your mind, but there is a disconnect between the language you want to use to say something and the motor performance of speech that’s inside your mouth. A lot of peope with aphasia, they know what they want to say. But there’s a disconnect between the language portion of the brain and the motor speech mechanism. Chris had both of those problems.”

First, Chris Pliner had to learn the vowels of speech.

“Kate would do what we call model and mirror,” Ittleman said. “She would show him exactly where to place his tongue or his teeth or his lips. That’s called a gesture. You can’t produce any sound of speech at all unless you are in the right position. We taught Chris all the vowels.”

Next, Ittleman focused on teaching Chris and Kate important words that they use in their everyday vocabulary.

“Progress has been excellent,” Ittleman said. “He has an expressive vocabulary of about 50 words. He couldn’t even say “I” when we first started. Those 50 words are all words that are important for him to say.”

Ittleman said the progress is a testament to the hard work put in by both Chris and Kate.

“He’s doing exceptional because he has a dedicated wife,” Ittleman said. “They don’t miss appointments. Nothing interferes with that. The truly wonderful caregiver learning this method from me sets this as a priority, kind of like a life and death situation because that’s really what it is. You will talk and live or you will act like a bump on a log.”

Having better communication has resulted in a happier lifestyle for the couple.

“That’s one of the worst things that can happen is when someone loses their ability to express themselves,” Ittleman said. “And he’s regaining that now.”

CHRIS PLINER HAS BEEN A FARMER ALL OF HIS LIFE, according to one of his longtime neighbors and friends, Sheri Gangestad, who now resides at Twin Lakes.

Pliner was featured in The Messenger when he was 18.

“He was the first in our community to have a semi to haul grain,” Gangestad said.

Chris Pliner stands almost 6 foot 7. Throughout his life, he earned a reputation as a hard worker and a friendly neighbor.

“He’s a true Iowa man,” Gangestad said. “He is that neighbor that if you need something, he’s there for you. For example, if a farmer was ill and couldn’t do their field work, he would be over there with his tractor doing their field work for them.

“As an adult he lived across from my folks. I didn’t worry quite so much about my folks because he was right across the street. He was like a son to my dad. Just an all around genuinely Christian honorable man.”

Gangestad is trying to help her friend get into the home that would best serve his needs.

“They have a little money,” she said. “Just not enough to do what they need.”

Gangestad said the reason the couple is building a home rather than buying is because it’s less expensive to build than to try to remodel an existing home.

She said Chris Pliner has come a long ways in his recovery.

“It’s a miracle that Chris is even here,” Gangestad said.

Kate Pliner said every day for her husband is a work in progress.

KATE AND CHRIS MET as children attending Sunday School.

“Growing up he used to chase me around,” Kate Pliner recalled. “I said, ‘Chris you are getting on my nerves.’ Then we got older and I wish I would have let him catch me back then. God put Chris in my life.”

Kate and Chris continue to support each other.

“When you go through something like this your life changes in a night,” Kate Pliner said. “You wish you could go back, but you know God has a reason for this and we just have to move forward. We are both different people than we were then. We have grown much closer to God. Don’t take life for granted, ever. Love the one you are with. Chris is my best friend.”

Kate Pliner said despite everything that has happened, Chris has maintained a positive attitude.

“He’s always been happy,” Kate Pliner said. “He’s cheerful. He’s a happy go lucky guy.

“We were only married 5 and a half years before this happened. I can’t imagine not having him in my life. I thank God every day that Chris is here with me because I would have been lost. Now we are fighting to get him better and get him home.”

How to Help

To help, send checks to Community State Bank, 1640 S.W. White Birch Circle, Ankeny, IA 50023. Make checks out to Kate and/or Chris Pliner (do not write fundraiser on check). Funds can also be sent via Venmo to the username @ckhomefund.

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