HOLLAND, Mich. — Holland Hospital is recognizing one of its cherished volunteers whose passion for patients began after a life-changing accident.
What is Mike Keyes's motivation? "I'm just very thankful for everybody and everyone that's around me."
He has an attitude of gratitude.
"I like helping people. Keeps me busy," Keyes told FOX 17 during a volunteer shift.
Keyes treasures every moment volunteering with patients at Holland Hospital. He understands them, because in 2008, he was one of them.
"I had a brain bleed back in 2008," Keyes recalled. "I was working in Grand Rapids at the time, and I don't remember any of this, but I guess I wasn't feeling good, so I was driving home, and I was swerving."
Officers thought he was driving drunk. “I just veered off, and there was a cop right there,” Keyes went on.
A brain surgeon at Holland Hospital saved him. Keyes spent 10 days at the hospital.
He was in rehabilitation when his speech therapist suggested he volunteer.
“I'm thankful every day I got, so that's why I volunteer here,” he added.
Now 15 years later, he’s evolved into a patient with a purpose.
“We do just the odds and ends. We run different things to different areas in the hospital, we do ... discharges of patients also, when they're ready to leave it.”
The staff wouldn’t know what to do without him.
Megan Cadle is the lead volunteer coordinator. "He's so personable. He connects so well with this patient. I hear him go past my office, you know, multiple times a day, and he's always chatting with the patients," Cadle said in praise of Keyes.
Most patients can’t wait to leave the hospital. Not Keyes.
“I just keep a good attitude about things. I just do what I can and I'm very lucky. I'm thankful every day I got, so that's big.”
Keyes has chosen to be a patient – into perpetuity.
Cadle explained the importance of his consistency: “Sometimes they're here for a very long time. They have a long journey ahead of them, but if they can see and relate to someone like Mike and just kind of walk a similar journey, [it] really helps them kind of feel that encouragement and know that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that things will turn around.”
Both of Keyes's kids volunteered at the hospital while in high school. To learn more about volunteering, click here.
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