Inside the main office, right outside principal Dr. Mike Havener’s office, hangs the annual KHS staff picture. Every teacher, counselor and custodian, dressed in the same red t-shirt, huddles in the varsity gym bleachers to pose during the staff’s first day. Everyone in the picture is employed by the Kirkwood School District, except for one.
Despite being unable to work, he is a permanent member of the Kirkwood family. Mike Bales spent almost 10 years at KHS posing for the same picture he participated in this year. The only difference now is his wheelchair.
To those who worked with him, the photo is a reminder of Bales’ dedication to KSD over the past 12 years. It is a gesture of respect to the man who served seven years as a Kirkwood police officer before becoming the first KHS school resource officer from 1999-2008. Most of all, the photo is a celebration of how far Bales has come since the post-surgical complications left him unable to walk, speak or eat on his own.
Recovery and change
After working as a Kirkwood police officer and detective from 1991-1999, Bales spent nine years as the first KHS school resource officer. He helped council and investigate student behavioral issues as well as implement safety procedures and policies not only for KHS but several schools in the district. In 2008, Bales retired from the police force to become the first KSD director of safety and security. He loved being a police officer and with kids, but he was just as excited to develop his new position with the district.
“He loved everything about being here,” Teri Bales, Bales’ wife, said. “The thing he missed most about leaving was the kids.”
While working at the district office, Bales began experiencing blurry vision and pain in his left eye in December 2009. Doctors diagnosed the cause as a benign tumor in his pituitary gland. After spending months on medication to treat his condition, he went into the hospital Christmas day of 2010 with severe headaches. When doctors informed him the tumor had increased in size, Bales received brain surgery Jan. 19, 2011.
Bales suffered several strokes due to surgical complications. Unconscious for 20 days after the surgery, the strokes left him unable to function without full-time medical care. He could no longer speak to his wife of 15 years. Confined to a feeding tube and respirator, he could not eat or breathe properly on his own. When he finally left the hospital in late May, he was off his respirator, but was still fully immobilized in a wheelchair with a feeding tube, showing very little response or communication to his family or medical staff. The road to recovery was just getting started.
Because each stroke patient is different, the limits of Bales’ recovery are uncertain. Teri has since hired a full-time caregiver to assist Bales in their home, which has been renovated with a new bathroom and wheelchair ramp to suit his condition. In October, Bales was removed from his feeding tube and began showing significant improvement. As the muscles in his body strengthened through intense physical therapy, Bales regained some use in his upper body. He can drink from a straw, lightly scratch an itch, and even use his hands to place cookie dough on a tray.
“There was a lady at physical therapy who didn’t even look like she had a stroke, which made me really excited because it gives us hope,” Teri said.
But what Teri notices the most are his facial expressions. As his facial muscles build, he can now smile, grimace, and even give one-word responses.
“He’s been improving little bits every day,” Teri said. “I get so excited when he talks. For Christmas he was able to say ‘Merry Christmas.’ Like the Willy Wonka story where Charlie gets the golden ticket, I believe Mike’s going to get the golden ticket for recovery.”
Teri defines the “golden ticket” as Mike being able to walk and talk, and she won’t settle for less. Until that ticket comes, it is going to be an expensive wait.
To cover costs for full-time nursing, medical bills, physical therapy and housing renovations, Teri works full time at The Pampered Chef, and also dips into the couple’s 401K to pay Nan, their caregiver, who lives in their home to give full-time care. Though Teri believes the biggest medical expenses have passed, next year Bales will move from the KSD insurance policy to Medicare, which will not pay as well as the district. Luckily, the community that Bales spent nearly 20 years making safer has come to his rescue.
Between fundraisers organized by KSD, the Kirkwood Police Department and local businesses such as Scott Mosby Building Arts—which covered labor and parts for wheelchair-accessible housing renovations—the Kirkwood community has raised tens of thousands of dollars for Bales’ recovery according to Teri. Through the help of donations and fundraisers, none of which were organized by Teri, the couple could afford enough for a down-payment and manageable monthly payments on a wheelchair-accessible van.
“I made the decision early on that I wasn’t going to stress out about money,” Teri said. “Money isn’t going to necessarily make him better. Buying the van isn’t going to be ‘the fix.’ But the van is pretty awesome.”
Bales’ Kirkwood Legacy
When Chad Walton, resource officer, took over Bales’ job at the start of the 2008 school year, he not only had to replace the man who helped create the school resource officer (SRO) position at KHS, but a beloved staff member.
“It was a huge shoe to fill,” Walton said. “It still is. The staff, they were sad he left. He became part of the [Kirkwood] family.”
Despite being a successful officer for the police department, Walton said, Bales knew how to adapt his job to a school environment.
“He is one of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet,” Walton said. “He knew what his jobs were as an officer, but he also had a very good idea of what he wanted here, so he was a wealth of knowledge for me.”
Dr. Mike Havener, who was an assistant principal during most of Bales’ tenure, remembers how students, well-behaved or not, perceived their school officer.
“He had a balance between being a police officer and being a resource for students who felt comfortable going to him,” Havener said. “It wasn’t the stereotypical thought of ‘Oh my gosh, here comes Mike Bales the police officer.’ It was, ‘Hey, here comes Officer Bales. Can’t wait to talk to him.’”
Since Bales’ last year at KHS was the 2007-08 school year, no current students had him as an officer, but his impact on the district is visible in the safety policy he helped implement in all Kirkwood schools.
“His lasting impact on the district is that we are much safer campus now,” Havener said. “He was never satisfied. He always wanted to make [Kirkwood] a safer place. The groundwork he has layed is still in place today.”
Looking ahead
Bales may no longer be working in Kirkwood schools, but his appearance in the staff picture reflects his continual importance to the people he spent every school day with for years. Teachers may view losing his daily presence a tragedy, but Teri cannot help but look on the bright side.
“Mike has a lot of new struggles, but I look at everything as a positive. For me, it’s made me worry less about the stupid stuff. I have laughed this year more than I ever have. For me, laughing is dealing.”
