After suffering stroke 4 years ago, fashion photographer using his passion to educate

CHICAGO (CBS) — Photographer Clyde Scott says faith helped him rebuild his life after a stroke. Now he’s paying that forward in a very fashionable way.

Scott is the founder of Focused on Fashion. He said he loves photography, fashion, and God, and he’s found a way to combine them into something beautiful.

As models practiced their walks and designers did some last-minute measuring at fittings before a big fashion show, the man responsible for it all got well-deserved applause.

Scott, as everyone calls him, fell in love with photography as a child. He’s photographed models all over the world. He and his wife, Jacqueline, also produce fashion shows.

But all the excitement came to an abrupt end one night four years ago.

“I was in the studio. Within a split second, I lost the ability of the movement of my leg,” he said. “I couldn’t talk out of one side of my mouth. I called for my wife, and upon calling for my wife, I couldn’t say her name.”

At just 46 years old, Scott had suffered a stroke.

“I tried to get out of the bed, I tried to do things I could normally do,” he said, choking back tears. “But I couldn’t do anything.”

A conversation with his doctor left him devastated.

“He said, ‘Well, you’re going to have to give up photography,'” Scott said. “‘You’re not going to have the movement you need to hold up that camera, you won’t have the strength for it.'”

But ever determined, Scott said “no way.”

“My response to the doctor was, ‘I serve a whole different God that is going to bring me out of this,'” Scott said.

So he had another conversation – this time with God. What was that like?

“My conversations were, ‘If you bring me out of this, I’m gonna do something great. I’m going to utilize every ounce of life in my body to build something great,'” Scott said.

He began to battle with a vengeance.

“I kept forcing myself to move,” he said. “They put me into therapy, and I fought and I fought.”

It has been an intense four-year struggle, but this past September, Scott was able to not just hold his camera, but shoot with it on his own.

“Every last thing that I had forgotten came back in a matter of seconds,” he said. “It was a rebirth.”

Scott said he never wants anyone to struggle like he did. So he decided to include a stroke awareness portion in each of his fashion shows.

“I have medical staff that will come into the show, that will speak about prevention, will speak about how to know the signs,” he said. “I want to help people to not have to go through what I went through.”

There’s another way Scott is keeping that promise he made to God. He’s determined to do something great in the town where he lives – Gary, Indiana.

He took CBS News Chicago on a tour, first to Gary’s prospering Miller Beach neighborhood.

“I want different businesses to come in. The way they’re coming here, I want them to be all over the city of Gary,” he said.

He wants to start it all by making Gary into a fashion hub.

“I am looking at doing a fashion week for Gary, Indiana. A lot of the major cities, they have fashion weeks,” he said. “It’s a full week of fashion, a full week of art, a full week of dance. Just celebrating culture.”

It’s a tall order for a city that has seen much better days, but Scott remains convinced these streets will thrive in the future.

“Gary is pushing itself to be better. The system that’s in place for Gary with redevelopment, they’re doing amazing things here,” he said.

Back at the fitting for his fashion show, the designers are satisfied, the models are set, and Scott has some final words.

“I’m trying to utilize my platform as a method to give people beautiful fashion, and also some knowledge about what it does to take care of yourself to prevent going through that,” Scott said.

Determination runs in high in the Scott household. His wife, Jackie, said when it came to her husband’s recovery, she simply wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

Scott said his professional and personal goal is to take something that’s already beautiful and amazing, and make it even more beautiful.

His next focused on fashion show is called “Pressure on the Runway,” scheduled for Nov. 16 in Gary. It’s dedicated to stroke awareness and part of the proceeds will be donated to the American Stroke Association. For information and tickets, log onto getfocusedonfashion.com.

Dorothy Tucker

Dorothy Tucker is a Chicago native, raised in Chicago’s Lawndale and Austin communities. She has been a reporter for CBS2 Chicago since 1984. She is a reporter on the station’s 2 Investigator team and is also president of the National Association of Black Journalists.