Patrish, My mother-in-law had a stroke 2 weeks after Christmas. It affected her speech,her arm and her leg as well as causing her her mouth to droop a little. Now just over 10 months later she has just started driving again and has regained 98% of what she lost. It required a lot of determination on her part as well as the support of her immediate family namely my sister-in-law and my wife. They succeeded in supporting her by allowing her to dictate the pace and as well as giving the nudges here and there to push things a little further. All the advice given above is valuable....keep in touch with the medical side and the re-hab side their views and involvement is important. Make sure they adhere to your friend`s wishes and don't just treat the illness....you need to focus on the patient equally if not more so.Your job may be that of advocate to ensure this happens. Good luck.