Warsaw resident Merrill Hostetler proved the doctors wrong.

Hostetler, 76, is a retired tool and die maker living life differently than before.

In November 1998, he had his second stroke, leaving his right arm, shoulder and hand paralyzed. His first stroke occurred eight years ago.

"They (doctors) said I'd never use my right hand, but I've proved them wrong," Hostetler said with pride.

"We never, ever thought he'd get this good," his wife, Marjorie, said. "We never thought he'd live."

"The whole right side (arm) is paralyzed," she said.

Hostetler said doctors "told me that I'd never move my right hand."

But despite doctors' predictions, Hostetler hasn't given up hope.

He has a nurse that comes two hours every morning to work on range of motion and exercise for his right hand.

"He can use that hand a little bit," Marjorie said. "We're just trying to keep what he's got."

Besides exercise, Hostetler also uses wood carving as therapy.

"We figured the therapy of carving has helped that hand," Marjorie said.

Hostetler carves wood figurines and wall hangings as a hobby.

"It's something to do and something to occupy my mind," he said.

But carving wood isn't as easy as it used to be for him. Hostetler, right-handed before the stroke, had to learn to use his left hand.

"It wasn't easy," he said.

"He can't really use his right hand yet," Marjorie said. "But he can put a paper or pencil in it, or steady his plate."

That's progress for Hostetler, but daily activities are still more difficult now.

Because of his loss, he said, sometimes he gets depressed: "You can't do anything anymore," Hostetler said. "I just don't let my mind go that far. I just keep busy."

And keeping busy so far has worked for Hostetler. His carvings serve as an inspiration to fight against his disability.

"I feel like it's been good therapy for him," Marjorie said. "He had no use of that arm or hand at all."

She said part of the use of his arm and hand "has come back but the shoulder didn't at all."

Hostetler's carving collection isn't only figurines and wall hangings.

Before the stroke, he carved wood canes, built muzzle loaders and powder horns and carved knife handles. He also made the blades. Many of the knife handles were made from deer antlers and one was made from a railroad spike.

"Here's a special one I made for cutting up lettuce," Hostetler said.

"That was his job," to make salad for potlucks and dinners, Marjorie said.

Hostetler also made one for cutting nuts.

Other hobbies included collecting old hammers and raising day lilies for gardening. He even built a stone wall in his back yard.

But Hostetler wasn't alone in his hobbies. Marjorie collected birds and oil lamps but said they "took too much room," so she quit.

"That's the thing about collecting things," she said. "You have to have places to put them."

With both their hobbies and collectibles, Marjorie ran out of room.

"I kept the ones that were important to me," she said.

She also said Merrill "can't make knives anymore, but he still does the carving.

"He had so many hobbies," Marjorie said. "He'd have to live to be 200 to take care of all these."

But like Merrill, many of those hobbies are now retired too. All except his wood carvings.

Merrill and his wife, Marjorie, reside outside of Warsaw with their dog, Tottie. [[In-content Ad]]