Store owner recovering from stroke

LANCASTER - This holiday season should be much more pleasant than last year for Kevin Cromley and his family.

Cromley owns Cromley Music Store and just before Thanksgiving 2014 he suffered a hemorrhagic stroke.

"The right side of my brain basically exploded, or something," he said. "It's like one of the worst things you can have."

Cromley, 45, said high blood pressure caused the stroke, but that he doesn't remember the frightening incident happening. He was told what happened when he woke up in the hospital following brain surgery in which doctors put a steel plate in his head. He was stricken at home after having what he said was the worst headache of his life.

But a year later, he is recovering, is at his music store almost every day and is able to walk again. He said he is looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with his girlfriend and his family and is happy to be alive. Cromley said a sense of humor has helped him in his recovery; he said he expects a full recovery.

"I always tell people when they come in that I survived," he said. "When people come in and see me it's just a strange comment. I'm like, 'I survived.' And they're like, 'Yeah, it's obvious. I'm looking at you.' So I just say it."

He is a respected guitar player in the local community and said he has been able to play guitar a little bit. Cromley was emphatic in saying the store will remain open and that he will remain its owner. His mother and sister ran the store in his absence.

"We are so grateful for every little improvement he's made," his mother, Carolyn Cromley, said. "He has come a long, long way. That was just very, very frightening and we're glad to still have him with us and improving. And I know that he'll be right back to where he was. It'll take a little longer. But he's going to therapy and he's just getting better all the time. He has weak days and he has stronger days. And the days that he's stronger he's up walking around by himself. It's makes us feel great."

She said it is good for her son to come to the store and talk to people. She said he was bedridden in the hospital for about two months.

The family planned to have Thanksgiving dinner at Alison Tipple's house. She is Kevin Cromley's sister. Like her mother, she said she is grateful her brother could join them this year.

For others with serious medical issues like Kevin Cromley has, he said they should stay positive, even though he said that was difficult. He said walking last year helped him stay positive, though.

"It was in here when I first did it," Kevin Cromley said. "I kind of pushed myself up out of the seat and just thought about how to do it. I never did it in training. They didn't help me with that at all. I pretty much did it myself. I just thought about what I'd have to do to walk, so it was kind of primal."

He said the moment was shot and put on Facebook.

"Everyone went nuts," he said.

Kevin Cromley's ongoing recovery was good news for other local guitarists.

"Kevin and his family have worked hard to have a musician-owned local store," WatyMelon guitarist Gregg Shively said. "Kevin continues to inspire through his strength during recovery. It will be a happy day when he's back out performing again."

Dick Evener, who plays guitar and owns Signature Music, agreed.

"A good guy as well as a longtime successful businessman," he said. "He has been a mainstay in the local music scene having taught so many to learn and love music. I hope that Kevin enjoys a full recovery and continued success."

Several musicians held a benefit last year for Kevin Cromley, an act he said was "very cool."

But he said music upset him in the early days of his recovery.

"I like a lot of the '70s and '60s music," Kevin Cromley said. "And anytime I'd hear those things I couldn't stand it, like Steely Dan, or something. Because the songs that meant a lot to me, it was just uncontrollable. I couldn't take it."

But he said he is getting better with that now. He said his favorite band are the Beatles, Rush, Triumph, Yes, Steely Dan and other artistic bands. But Kevin Cromley is not too optimistic about the future of rock music.

"It's missing a lot," he said. "It doesn't have any direction at all. It might be over with and may not improve any. Because current times don't reflect any of the things that the songs of the '70s and stuff were about. There's really nothing to write about now."

jbarron@lancastereaglegazette.com

740-681-4340

Twitter: @JeffDBarron