Health

It was a great 4th of July

The Rinehart family had a great 4th of July, 2008. A beautiful summer day, Ty Rinehart played golf with friends in the morning. That evening they attended a party and fireworks display on the other side of their Westfield neighborhood. Then they returned home to their cul-de-sac to celebrate with neighbors in one of their driveways. Ty says they shared a few bottles of wine and a lot of laughs. He remembers hearing his wife, Becky, laughing harder that he had heard in a long time. “She was in a great mood,” he said. Ty and Becky headed inside with the kids about midnight. He said, “We had a great 4th of July.”

Ty awoke about 4:30 a.m. on July 5th. Becky was still sleeping seemed restless. He got up and went to the couch to watch TV. The kids, son Dylan age 7 and daughter Jenna age 4, got up about 8:30. Ty checked on Becky. She was groggy. He thought maybe she had a little more wine than he realized last night and decided to let her sleep. At 10:00 a.m. he tried to wake her but she didn’t respond. She could open her eyes but that was all. Ty knew something wasn’t right and called 9-1-1. Forty-one year-old Becky Rinehart, wife and mother of two young children and research nurse at Eli Lilly & Co., had suffered a stroke.