Months after stroke-like illness, an Alaska state senator is still recovering
- James Brooks
- Jul 31
- 4 min read
Sen. Donny Olson will be among dozens of legislators returning to the Capitol for this weekend’s special session
On the last day of Alaska’s legislative session in May, Sen. Donny Olson made a mistake.
The longtime Democratic senator from Golovin, mishearing Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel, voted to sustain Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a bill that increases the state’s public school education formula.
Heads snapped to Olson, and his colleague, Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, elbowed him.
When Senate President Gary Stevens asked if any lawmakers wanted to change their votes. Olson stood, and without speaking, pointed at the voting board.
Stevens duly changed Olson’s vote, and for the first time in over two decades, the Legislature overrode a veto by a sitting governor.
Olson’s silent statement was emblematic of his session.
Since suffering a stroke-like medical emergency in January, Olson has been suffering from aphasia, a language disorder that has made it difficult for him to translate his thoughts into spoken words.
Now, he’s about to return to the Capitol for a special session called by Dunleavy. Again, education issues are on the calendar, and again, Olson will be asked to cast his vote.
Olson sat down for an interview on May 20, shortly after the Alaska Senate adjourned its regular session for the year. Since then, in a series of interviews, colleagues and those familiar with his work have described a man healing from a severe health condition but one still able to serve in the Legislature.
Olson isn’t up for election until 2028. Barring early retirement, he will become the most senior legislator in 2027, as several of his colleagues leave office.
“The thinking is still the same. The articulation, that’s what, uh, is,” Olson said, struggling to finish the sentence.
Can he still do his job as a senator?
He nodded.
Olson has an extensive career — he’s been a doctor, a reindeer herder, a commercial pilot, and earned a law degree. He graduated from the University of Minnesota-Duluth with a bachelor’s in chemistry before getting a medical degree from Oral Roberts University and, later, graduating from the University of Colorado School of Law.
As challenging as each of those degrees has been — plus family life and his legislative career — recovering from his stroke-like illness may be the toughest obstacle yet.
“It’s still pretty fresh. It’s like a tailspin,” he said.
“You know your feelings, but you can’t quite articulate what your feelings are,” he said.
When Olson left the Capitol in January, several of his colleagues weren’t sure whether he would be able to return. In private discussions, they debated who might fill his seat if he were to resign.
“I did hear a rumor that I am retiring,” he said by text message on July 10. “That is not true.”
Olson was absent from the Capitol for nearly a month and underwent an intensive language therapy program at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago.
“My time in Chicago was incredibly beneficial, and I am grateful for the therapy I received. While I will continue participating in speech therapy as part of my recovery, I am feeling strong and energized to be back at work,” he said in a written statement on March 10, after returning to the Capitol.
He’s continued to undergo speech therapy here in Alaska.
Does he feel like things are improving?
“Oh, for sure. With the month down in intensive (therapy) in Chicago … when I was talking to the stroke people, (U.S. Sen. John Fetterman), the senator from Pennsylvania, I think he was a lot farther down than I am,” Olson said.
Fetterman suffered a stroke in 2022 while running for office and was hospitalized for weeks with depression after being sworn into the U.S. Senate. Afterward, he relied on transcription services and other technological tools to do his job.
In May, not long before Olson ended the Alaska Legislature’s regular session, New York Magazine published a lengthy examination of the way that Fetterman’s personality seemed to have changed since the stroke.
Olson’s colleagues say they’ve seen nothing like that from Olson.
“I think he’s got the same sense of humor. He’s got the same — I think he’s got the same cognitive ability. I think it’s just his ability to speak, but even that has improved,” said Rep. Robyn Burke, D-Utqiagvik and one of the two state representatives in Olson’s state Senate district.
Rep. Neal Foster, D-Nome, is the other and could not be reached for comment.
Since his illness, Olson has continued to meet with constituents, lobbyists and local government officials, who said they haven’t had problems communicating with him, even if he can’t speak clearly.
In a pair of interviews with the Nome Nugget — one in April and another after the end of the legislative session — Olson was able to make his positions clear through written responses. When speaking, his staff frequently finished his sentences.
Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, has worked as a registered nurse and an advanced nurse practitioner and is familiar with stroke-like symptoms.
She said she hasn’t observed any personality changes. Other lawmakers said the same.
Olson said he’s not 100%, but he is getting better.
“I’m still on the road to recovery … what’s important are the milestones,” Olson said in May.
Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, said on Wednesday that he spoke with Olson a few days ago.
“He sounded a lot better,” Wielechowski said.
“It was a short conversation; he called me, and he sounded much better than he was. … There was definite progress there,” he said.
Burke is supportive.
“I think he’s still there. I think his speech will continue to improve and come back stronger,” she said, “and he’ll be here. He’ll be here for years to come.”
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
