ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — For Josh Hamant, working out is about much more than getting stronger.
It's part of a recovery journey that began last June, when the Cincinnati State nursing student suffered a massive stroke.
“It just hit," Hamant said. "I felt my face kind of droop."
Hamant was placed in a medically induced coma for three days. When he woke up, he found out the stroke left him with almost no control over the left side of his body.
“I thought, ‘I’m never going back to nursing school, I’m never walking again,’” Hamant said.
At the time, Hamant was studying to become an ICU nurse.
In the blink of an eye, he went from preparing to care for critically ill patients to becoming one himself.
“You don’t see many people my age, patient-population-wise, so it felt different, but it also felt very similar,” Hamant said.
WATCH: Hear about Hamant's perseverance and desire to finish nursing school despite his stroke:
Suddenly, Hamant was learning how to walk again while wondering whether he would ever return to the life he knew before the stroke.
He said adjusting to that new reality was not easy.
But Hamant said he has remained determined to keep moving forward.
“I don’t really have any other option but to keep pushing,” he said.
Since the stroke, Hamant has continued working on both his body and his mind.
His recovery has come a long way. Hamant is back at Cincinnati State and is set to graduate from the nursing program in December.
“I put nearly 3 and 1/2 years into this, so I’m going to see it through,” he said.
Hamant spends part of his recovery time with trainers at Anderson Township's Crunch Fitness.
His trainers, Dave Dickey and Lisa Feldhaus, said he's come a long way in his rehab.
"You have to trust the process and know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel," Dickey said.
Some days are harder than others, but Hamant continues to focus on getting better every day and preparing himself to join the medical field.
“There’s really only one thing you can do: just put your head down and keep fighting for it,” Hamant said.
