Life cycle, resumed

“We took all his clothes out of the closet and stuffed them in garbage bags, intending to drop them off at Goodwill,’’ said his daughter-in-law, Alice Sawyer. “But then my husband said we could use the clothes to pad the china we had packed.’’

Looking back, Sawyer said wryly, “That’s the only reason I still had anything to wear when I got out of the hospital.’’

That’s right: out of the hospital. To his doctors’ great surprise, he recovered. And what a recovery: Not only would he return to Carleton-Willard Village, a graduated-care retirement community in Bedford where the former Lexington resident has lived since 2000, he would also return to his earlier life as a competitive bicyclist.

In May, barely a year after being released from Lahey Clinic, the now 88-year-old took home three age-group gold medals from the annual Connecticut Senior Games: one for a 5K time trial, one for a 10K time trial, and one for a 20K road race.

“He’s a role model for all of us, a wonderful man and a gentleman of the old-school variety,’’ said Helen Greitzer, 67, who has been biking with Sawyer for five years.

Sawyer’s primary-care physician, Dr. Christine Winger, describes Sawyer’s recovery as a case in which the presence of friends, the efforts of medical professionals, and the patient’s inner drive conjoined to turn a dire situation around.

“Bob is a great guy and a good patient,’’’ said Winger, who with Sawyer’s permission described the challenges he faced. “His case underscored the point that we need to see each patient as an individual, and not an age.’’

Widowed for several years, Sawyer had enjoyed generally good health until he was struck by a cerebral hemorrhage while working in his garden in 2008. A CT-scan led to a diagnosis of lymphoma, and he was hospitalized at Lahey for weeks. He developed pneumonia, lost the ability to swallow, and stopped eating.

“The old rule of thumb is that you can’t survive more than three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food,’’ he said. “So there I was, not eating, and it was getting to be three weeks. People had pretty much given up on me, and I had given up on myself.’’

But right around then, Sawyer found his symptoms lessening slightly. One morning he realized he could swallow.

“My wife and I had made a pact a while ago that we didn’t want any heroic measures for survival. So I didn’t have a feeding tube or anything like that. I felt I’d had a good life and if this was where it ended, then so be it. But then there came a time when I felt like I had to make a decision. Can I make it back? Do I want to lie here like a vegetable for a year? So I said, ‘I’ll have some breakfast. Some hot rice cereal, easy to swallow.’ ’’

Winger recalled that dark time. “He became very depressed and stopped eating. He didn’t want to see the friends who came to visit. We worked hard to be sure he understood that he could improve the situation if only he could find the will,’’ she said.

“He was going through a difficult time, and by being supportive, we were able to help him pull through.’’

Returning to Carleton-Willard Village, Sawyer stayed for a time in the facility’s nursing center before moving into an independent-living apartment. He said the staff rallied to facilitate his recovery.

“The nutritionist started me on a regimen of more calories than you can count and made a chart to track my weight gain,’’ he said. “As a former quality control engineer, I know the value of charts. I had another chart for physical therapy. My physical therapist was wonderful and really challenged me to get back in shape. But first he had to help me just to get on my feet again. Walking, climbing stairs.’’

Slowly, Sawyer transitioned to the kind of rigorous fitness routine he had previously observed, biking his bicycle and working out at Carleton-Willard’s fitness center.

Muire Flynn, the facility’s fitness and aquatics director, watched Sawyer fight back after his seven-month absence. “He has not only returned to his previous fitness levels, but even increased his strength in some areas over where he was before he got sick,’’ said Flynn. “By staying committed to his own wellness and health and coming back slowly, he conquered adversity. He took ownership for his own health, and just as important, he was patient. He didn’t expect to get back to where he was overnight.’’

The biking regimen he observed for decades prior to his illness was what helped him return to full health, Sawyer believes. For more than 20 years, starting when he and his family lived in Lexington, Sawyer was a member of the Charles River Wheelmen Bicycle Club.

“We had a group called the Wednesday Wheelers. Every Wednesday we’d ride about thirty miles and have lunch. In the winter we’d ski or showshoe instead. Those friends of mine really stood by me when I was sick.’’

An engineer at the Raytheon Co. for several decades, Sawyer traces his love of biking back to his childhood, growing up on a dairy farm in Haverhill. “I had a pony instead of a bicycle,’’ he said. “My friends and I would go out for rides in the country: them on their bikes, me on my pony. But when they got tired, we’d trade off: They’d ride the pony and I’d get a chance to try biking.’’

Later, as a father, Sawyer became a Boy Scout leader and took his charges on overnight biking trips, which reignited an enthusiasm for riding. His wife, Ruth, “not wanting to be a bicycle widow,’’ as Sawyer puts it, agreed to try tandem riding, and for years the couple did their vacationing on a homemade two-person bike.

“We toured San Francisco and Carmel, a dozen countries in Europe, most of the southern provinces of Canada and half of the US, all on a tandem that I built for us,’’ he said. “We both loved it.’’

These days, Sawyer rides with a mixed-ages group that does weekly tours of 30 to 40 miles along the Minuteman Bikeway, which winds through suburban communities between Bedford and Cambridge. He also does his grocery shopping and errands by bike.

Greitzer said she remembers when a fellow group member told her that Sawyer had been hospitalized and was not expected to live long. She began to dread opening her e-mail, for fear that it would bring news of his death.

Instead, she received an e-mail from Sawyer, saying he wanted to resume his weekly bicycle rides with the group.

Sawyer’s influence as a role model became even more powerful, Greitzer said, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“He said to me, ‘You’re a biker; you’re going to get through this just fine.’ ’’ And Greitzer believes Sawyer was right: After a series of radiation treatments, she was recently pronounced cancer-free.

The three medals Sawyer won at the Senior Games have motivated him to resume the competitive circuit, but he is modest about his successes.

It’s not necessarily that he’s such a physical force on the bike, he says; sometimes winning is mostly a matter of showing up.

“After all, it’s not like there are that many other competitors in my age bracket,’’ he remarked on a recent morning.

And then the man who hovered on the brink of death not that long ago headed out for a training ride.

Another 30 miles on the bike, followed by a weight-training session at the fitness center, an appointment with his physical therapist, and a bit later he would be presiding over a meeting of the Energy Committee at Carleton-Willard Village: It’s all just another day for Sawyer, and he’s not planning on slowing down any time soon, according to his daughter-in-law.

“The group he rides with does a special get-together every year on the day before Thanksgiving,’’ Alice Sawyer said.

“They do their ride and then have a meal together. He’s already told us that for Thanksgiving of 2011, when he’ll be 90, he wants my husband and me to join them for that ride.’’