Brienne
Friday, September 30, 2011
By: Brienne I.

Survivor

Here's a phone call I never thought I would have to make: "Uh..Mom, Dad..I'm paralyzed".

At age 37, with a healthy and active lifestyle, I never ever, EVER thought I was a canidate for a stroke. As I found out, a stroke can effect anyone at any age. I also came to learn that it's like a ripple effect. Not only you, but your friends and family are impacted as well.

I had an ischemic stroke ("mini") which left me in a hospital wondering how I would ever go to my five year old twins' school play again. As I layed there and reviewed my life in my head, I thought..."This is not in my plan. Being paralyzed is simply not going to happen and I need to will myself to a speedy recovery."

The stroke left me questioning many things in life. Your life can change in an instant and there is nothing you can do about it. Or is there? My eyes were certainly wide open to see what kind of decisions I needed to make. I chose to work extremely hard both physically and mentally to become strong again. I've since recovered all physical movements but there are still some numb areas. Cognitively, I was in a fog for months and only now, I feel like I'm back to pre-stroke.

All of this happening has led me to go back to school as an adult and enter a nursing program to become an RN. I want to give back what those nurses gave to me: kindness, encouragement, empathy, love and support. So yeah... my life was changed in an instant.