Lifting weights, lifting spirits – Dimitri Ross Jagroo's will to walk after debilitating stroke

DIMITRI ROSS JAGROO takes life one step at a time. He knows he has come a long way. He doesn’t think about the tough times or talk about them – except to remember how his mother, Camille and father, Sahadeo "Bona" Jagroo, helped him to walk and talk again.

Jagroo, now 32, doesn’t recall the illness that left him without speech or mobility, but his father said, “He had a high fever, extreme congestion and was on antibiotics. There was so much pressure in his head, his eyes were bulging.”

When Jagroo’s parents took him to Mt Hope hospital, doctors operated to reduce the pressure on his brain.

“Ross had a stroke and suffered brain damage from a lack of oxygen,” said his aunt, Sue Lalchan, a physics teacher at Hillview College.

Jagroo was 14.

“Doctors said the brain can find new pathways when it’s damaged, and much of his progress would be up to him,” said Lalchan.

With no physical therapist in the hospital and no money for a private one, Ross’s parents lifted him from the bed, draped one of his arms around each of their shoulders and began the long journey to teach him to walk again.

His illness had occurred during the school vacation between forms one and two. His parents worked to get Jagroo back in school.

“The students in El Dorado Secondary School were kind and supportive when he returned,” said Lalchan. “The school wanted to help, but had no programmes to fit his educational needs.”

Ross’s parents enrolled him in Adult Literacy Tutors Association (ALTA) classes in Warrenville, Cunupia with Miss Yvonne so he could learn to pronounce words again. He attended Eshe’s Learning Centre, a school in Port of Spain for students with learning challenges, and remained there until he was 16.

Slowly, Jagroo progressed and returned to what he loved best: helping his father fix friends’ cars at their home in Warrenville and later in Caroni. He can’t remember a time when he wasn’t helping his father in their garage.

“Since small,” he said. “From the time I could walk."

Like a nurse assisting a surgeon, Ross hands his father the tools he needs while fixing cars.

Each shaky step he takes looks difficult and frustrating to an onlooker, but the effort goes unnoticed by Jagroo. He never stops moving. He describes a typical day as “happy” – especially since 2019.

His life took an unexpected turn when Lalchan joined Evofitlab, a gym in Tunapuna, to lose weight.

“Gerard Nicholas, a trained physiotherapist working there, agreed to take on Ross as a community service project. I would pay my fees and Ross would come free, but he said Ross could only come if I trained too. It was his way of motivating me to keep up with the gym,” she said.

And it worked. Lalchan lost weight; Jagroo got stronger.

In the first video taken in the gym, Jagroo sits on a bench, his hands trembling as he struggles to press light weights up to his ears. He appears weak and fearful. In contrast, a recent video captures Jagroo lifting weights with ease, exuding confidence and control.

“In the gym, they call the step machine ‘Ross’s machine,’ because we all dislike it, but Ross loves it, and he does the hardest level,” said Lalchan.

Jagroo beamed a proud smile and said, “Yes.”

“Ross motivates me and everyone else when we exercise. The trainer says Ross is his hardest-working client,” said Lalchan.

“Ross has unwavering determination and resilience. His resolve was unparalleled,” said Nicholas. “He approached every session with fierceness, never hesitating to push himself beyond perceived limitations.”

“What do you like about the gym?” I asked Jagroo.

“I feel strong,” he said, “and friends.”

“He is so outgoing in the gym,” said Lalchan. “There’s one talkative girl, and he tells her, '(The) only thing strong about you is your mouth.'”

This year, Ross’s gym friends joined him for his birthday celebration, a bar lime.

Discipline and drive propel Jagroo forward. It takes him two hours to get ready for the day. Four days a week he wakes up at 3 am and makes a cup of coffee and a concoction of sea moss, milk, sugar and peanut butter to drink before his workout.

Three of those days he goes to the gym with his aunt, and one with his sister, Ariel Nikki Jagroo. The other days, he wakes up at 5 am to be in the garage for 7 am.

Other than working and the gym, Jagroo enjoys beach limes with friends and family and off-roading with his dad or sister. Just after he returned home from the hospital his dad bought a Jimny jeep with no roof and an open back. Together, as Jagroo improved, they fixed up the jeep, painted it maroon and put oversized tyres on it.

“I wanted Ross to have a hobby and feel happy,” said Jagroo’s dad.

“What’s fun about off-roading?” I asked.

Jagroo smiled and said, “Cars aren’t going, but we are going.”

For Jagroo, happiness is the feeling of going somewhere most other people can’t go. He doesn’t drive, because he has absence seizures – brief moments when his thoughts and actions freeze. But nothing can keep Jagroo back.

Last year he attended a Kees Dieffenthaller concert. He has participated in 5k runs and even a 6k one.

“I walk,” he said “I finish.”

His mother, Camille, missed many special moments and achievements. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, she underwent chemotherapy and died in 2023. She was 62.

Jagroo has special memories of her.

“She helped me walk and talk,” he said.

“And you got to return the favour by helping her when she was sick,” said Lalchan.

Jagroo nodded and stared off in the distance. Memories of his mother’s cooking made him smile.

“She didn’t like pork, but she cooked pork for me,” he said.

At night, after work, he watches the local news with his dad and looks at TikTok and YouTube videos on his phone about food, off-roading and travelling.

Eighteen years after his illness, Jagroo describes himself as “Confident. Good. Talking more. Speaking better. Happy. I am happy,” he said. “I like helping people with their cars.”

“He’s kind, hard-working and driven,” Lalchan added.

Jagroo said he feels happiest when his dad praises his work.

“I hope I help him.”

In the family's garage, he never stops moving, reaching for a tool and handing it to his dad. His cellphone is never in sight while he works.

“Do you ever feel frustrated?” I asked.

Jagroo beamed his biggest smile yet and said, “No. I have no woman. So I am good.”

Lalchan laughed. “Ross always had a sense of humour."

“We treat people by the way they look, but he can do so much more than what people think,” said Lalchan. “I wish people could see him in the gym.”

Jagroo said he has no plans for the future. He takes one day at a time.

Suddenly, he looked concerned. He spotted a tool out of place and walked across the garage to put it where it belonged. He returned to work, organising wrenches and sweeping the floor.

Looking on, Lalchan said, “He never gave up.”

Nicholas said, “Ross is a testament to the power of resilience and the effectiveness of a personalised, multi-disciplinary approach to rehabilitation. He has made tremendous strides in regaining a level of independence that once seemed out of reach."

His sister Nikki said, ”Despite the many challenges life has hurled his way and having to start over from scratch, he remains kind, willing and always has a smile. His strength and resilience shine through. His determination to succeed is truly admirable."

Dimitri Ross Jagroo, the teenager who once struggled to walk and speak, now uplifts everyone around him.