‘Saga’ Steve Casai recovering

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‘Saga’ Steve Casai recovering

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“Sage” Steve Casai has worked for Hillsdale College for four decades.

External Affairs | Courtesy

 

His long-term prognosis remains uncertain, but “Saga” Steve Casai’s health is improving.

“Steve is doing much better,” Casai’s longtime friend Bud Vear said. “I have been encouraged by the dramatic improvement in his alertness over the past two weeks.”

Four-decade college employee Casai was hospitalized in September after falling in his house, where his landlord found him unresponsive. An ambulance transported him to the University of Michigan Medical Center. There, doctors removed a partial brain tumor and mended skin lesions.

Since he returned to Hillsdale, doctors are treating him at the Hillsdale Community Health Center. Last Thursday, he received surgery to clean out a deep wound on his hip. Though he shows positive signs of recovery, Vear said it’s uncertain when or if Casai will be able to return to work.

Casai’s pain has lessened in the past couple weeks, but his slow-healing hip wound and paralyzed leg still bother him, Vear said.

“I miss walking around the beautiful campus,” Casai said Tuesday after a routine therapy session to help him stand and walk. “Things will never be the same. I will never stand the same way again.”

Casai now lies covered in a patchwork blanket with notes and prayers from Hillsdale College students and staff scrawled across the squares.

“I am so grateful for everyone,” Casai said, surveying the mounds of cards piled on a table and window ledge and taped to the walls of his room. “It’s unbelieveable.”

Casai said he does not know when he will be able to return home, but he is finding comfort in reading his Bible and a biblical commentary, fixtures on his bedside table.

Specifically, Casai describes the hope Psalm 3 provides him with the Lord’s promise of deliverance from suffering.

Vear advises visitors to come see Casai in the early afternoon or evening when Casai is most alert. College food provider Bon Appétit also accepts notes and gifts that it will coordinate sending to Casai.

“He has received many wonderful cards from students and alums with very touching messages, and we read these to him when he is awake,” Vear said. “Steve has impacted many in very meaningful ways by his smile and his cheerful manner…I am constantly reminded of the impact Steve has had through the years.”