I say 'is' because my dad is my hero. He wouldn't let a little thing like a stroke stop him. He struggled through going to hospital and struggled through speech therapy, and rather than just regaining the ability to say the most rudimentary of phrases - the man worked to get as much of it back as possible. He's a little slower than he used to be at finding the right words. He's up to about my level of not recalling the phrase and pausing for a while to get it out. But I can still talk to him about all sorts of things, I can still ask him 'how do you spell absence' and 'which 'bear' is it, is it bare or is it bear?' and he will know and be able to tell me.
I am so thankful that my dad is someone that I get to see everyday, and I don't tell him that enough.