Pizza, cheese bread and cake.

It’s a simple meal to celebrate a birthday — but for Jeff Thomas, it once felt impossible.

After a stroke, Thomas couldn’t swallow. He lived with a feeding tube, carried a spit bucket and relied on medication patches to manage constant drooling. He couldn’t enjoy meals with his family and felt isolated.

“I thought for sure I’d be spitting in that bucket the rest of my life,” he recalls. “I had lost so much weight, and I didn’t think I’d ever get back to where I was before.”

That changed when he met Anthony Lewis, MA, CCC-SLP, senior speech language pathologist at University of Vermont Health–Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital. Lewis introduced Jeff to Ampcare, a therapy using gentle electrical stimulation to help muscles relearn how to swallow. It was newly available at the hospital — and for Jeff, it was life changing.

“He put electrodes on my chin, and after just a few sessions, I could feel the muscles working again,” Thomas says. “It was weird at first, but it worked. It really worked.” He immediately set a goal: take his daughter out for lunch on her birthday, three months away. After six sessions, he started to feel more like himself again. A follow-up swallow study confirmed he could eat regular food, and his feeding tube was removed.

After a year of frustration, Thomas enjoyed the birthday meal — complete with pizza and cheese bread.

“I can eat anything I want now,” he says with a big smile. “Thank God. I never thought I’d get here. I can’t thank Tony enough.”

Lewis saw Thomas’s determination firsthand.

“Jeff came in with a goal, and he worked hard,” Lewis says. “Ampcare gave him the tools, but it was his spirit that made the difference. Seeing him eat again, seeing him smile — it’s why we do what we do.”

Thomas has regained much of the weight he lost and, more importantly, his confidence. Ice cream, mac and cheese and cereal are among his favorites. He also loves going out to eat — which has become a bit of a habit for Thomas and his father.

“Every time I go into Plattsburgh for rehab or any reason, really, I always want to go somewhere and eat,” he says. “After a while, my dad would jokingly give me a look, like he’s saying, ‘Really? Again?’ But I know he is just really happy to see me able to do these kinds of things again.”

Thomas was among the first to receive Ampcare therapy at the hospital. Since then, Lewis has treated several other patients and is thrilled with the results.

“We’re seeing more and more patients like Jeff who are able to regain their ability to swallow and eat like so many of us do every day,” Lewis explains. “It’s changing lives, and it’s just the beginning.”

“I just want people to know what the hospital did for me,” Thomas adds. “They gave me my life back.”