McLachlin recovering after suffering stroke
Consider it a stroke of luck. No pun intended.
Former Punahou School coach and sports broadcaster Chris McLachlin was visiting friends Saturday prior to driving to Stanford to take in the Cardinal-Pepperdine men's volleyball match. While working on a computer, "he began acting strange and slurring his words," McLachlin's wife, Beth said on a telephone call from California yesterday. "The wife had had a stroke four years ago and recognized the symptoms.
"Chris got help quickly. I can't believe how lucky we were."
Chris McLachlin, who retired from Punahou after 37 years last year, is recuperating at Stanford Medical Center. His condition continues to improve and the prognosis is good for a complete recovery, according to his wife.
"We're not out of the woods yet," she said. "They're still going to do more tests to try to figure out what caused it and see how bad the damage is.
"He'll need to see a speech therapist and we're going to be here a couple of weeks. Please tell everyone their prayers have worked really well."
Beth McLachlin flew to California on Sunday. Oldest son Parker was able to get to the hospital Saturday night, flying up from his Arizona home, and spent most of Sunday with his father before flying back to Phoenix that night.
"Dad's up, walking around and talking," said Parker, who is now in San Diego preparing to play in the Buick Open PGA tournament. "He seemed just as sharp as ever. Everything's looking up. I was happy things worked out and I was able to go see him."
Parker McLachlin was supposed to be in Palm Desert, Calif., competing in the Bob Hope Classic. However, he said he withdrew earlier in the week because of illness; McLachlin had tied for 10th place at the Sony Open in Hawaii the previous week.
One other McLachlin is on the mend. Younger son Spencer, a freshman on the Stanford volleyball team, is rehabbing a sprained ankle suffered Jan. 12 when jump-serving against UC Irvine.
Chris McLachlin is a former player and coach at Stanford. At Punahou, he coached the Buffanblu to 11 state titles in boys volleyball and three in boys basketball. He currently serves as a KFVE analyst for University of Hawaii volleyball.