Holly R. K.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
By: Jeff K.

Survivor

I would like to introduce my wife, Holly, a stroke survivor for eight years. Holly is the mother of three boys. Holly had a left hemorrhagic stroke in her basil ganglia in 2003. She was only 37 years old. She has no recollection of the stroke. I went to every stroke web site. The thing I noticed was every web site was doom and gloom and worst case scenario. How would this affect us? Holly returned to work and, after a couple of weeks, lost her job. Holly worked a couple of part‐time jobs. The state paid for Dog Grooming School. It had only been a year and half. Finally, things were looking up. She now works as a Tissue Research Coordinator for the past two years. The struggle has been hard, but we are fortunate for how far Holly has come. Holly finally received the medicine she needed in the form of a stroke survivor support class. Listening to others in the same situation was very healing. The following is from my wife Holly, “While there is more help for stroke victims today, it's not enough. For that reason, I want to be there for stroke victims, so that we can raise awareness and provide support and hope to those victims and caregivers. Nothing would make me feel prouder than to be able to serve.”