Quick action on the part of his wife saved a Diggs man from severe brain injury after suffering a stroke last month.

Richard Lee and Betsy Ann Stewart had been running errands on the Peninsula all day on Jan. 16, and returned home just before 6 p.m. “We were home about five or 10 minutes and I was in the den playing with the new phone I had just gotten that day,” Richard Lee said.

About that time, the couple’s house phone rang, and he picked it up, but never did say a word. It was their grandson on the other end of the line.

“When the phone rang, I knew he picked it up, but never heard him say anything,” Betsy Ann said. Warming up dinner in the kitchen, she went to see if Richard Lee was sitting in his chair in the den. The chair was empty, but she noticed him standing in the doorway of the kitchen, and he had placed the phone on the counter. 

Betsy Ann said she immediately noticed her husband, normally an active and energetic 75-year-old, didn&rs...