“Survive to Thrive” – Making the Most of What I CAN do With a Post-Stroke Brain

On June 2, 2020, my life changed forever and in an instant. As the world battled through COVID, my brain was battling for life and function. While standing at the kitchen counter, my left hand flopped forward and went limp. I stared at it in disbelief, unable to move or feel anything below my wrist, and thought, “I could be having a stroke.” As quickly as the thought passed through my mind, I dismissed it and told myself, “You’re a healthy, 34-year-old marathoner. You have no reason to be having a stroke.” Oh, how wrong I was!

As my mom drove me to the hospital, I could read the concern on her face, but tried to act fine. The paralysis of my left hand only lasted about a minute, but then all four limbs went weak. I was exhausted and mentally drained while trying to focus on my mom’s questions. I thought my responses were fine, but Mom later told me the words that came out of my mouth were jumbled. I spoke in fragments rather than sentences, and the fragments were out of order. My face was not drooping, nor was my speech slurred, but I just was not myself. Due to COVID, my mom was not allowed in the ER with me. My best advocate was forced to leave me in a wheelchair in the waiting room and go out to wait in the car. Doctors and nurses were thoroughly perplexed and ran a few tests with no real guidance. The MRI machine was down, so I was admitted to the hospital in order to get imaging done in the morning. Twenty-four hours after my stroke, the doctors came into my hospital room to inform me that the MRI images verified I indeed had survived a stroke only three days after turning 34. Further testing over the next couple of days would show I had a hole in my heart (PFO – Perforated Foramen Ovale) that we had known nothing about, causing a clot to skip my lung’s filter and go into my brain. Surprise

A stroke can happen to anyone at any time. Yes, there are certain risk factors that cause a person to be more susceptible than others, but that doesn’t exclude everyone else. I had none of your typical risk factors, and the exterior signs of my stroke did not match the famous FAST acronym promoted by the American Heart Association. Perhaps if a stroke had been on the radar of the ER docs that day, I may have been given the “clot buster” meds within the 3-hour window, and the lasting effects of the stroke would have been reduced. We will never know and certainly cannot turn back time to change the course of events for my life on that day.

So now what?! What does post-stroke life look like? First of all, each stroke experience is different since each brain is unique. I can only share my story and my life experience as a stroke survivor in an attempt to help others. As a result of the stroke, I now walk with a limp. Though the initial impact of the stroke affected my hand, the final outcome after working through PT, OT, and speech therapy is a neurological glitch with my left leg. My knee bends with each step I take. There is only one way to override the glitch aside from wearing an AFO (ankle-foot orthosis): run. Yes, you read that correctly. My running gait is completely normal without my orthotic. Doctors cannot make heads or tails of it, but that makes no difference. I just keep running. Far. In December of 2026, I will run my 5th marathon as a stroke survivor and 8th marathon in my running career. “Why marathons???”, you ask. Because I can! Running provides the freedom to move normally, push my limits, and prove what is possible in spite of the stroke.

The stroke not only changed my walking gait, but it also changed my cognition and mental stamina, or rather, the lack thereof. A year prior to the stroke, I was a college graduate and studying for my physical therapy assistant board exam. Little did I know I would go from clinician to patient only ten months after starting my full-time PTA job. After a few months of rehab, I tried returning to office work, but my brain can no longer handle reading and computer work like it used to. One of my jobs in the office was to complete weekly inventory of supplies. I would go into the supply closet and try hard to get an accurate count and return to my desk with my head in my hands and think, “Counting is not supposed to be this hard!” Adding to the pounding headache, blurred vision, and frustration of the simple task is the fact that I had been a straight-A student my whole life. I loved learning and reading and even writing, but my brain no longer tolerated life as I had known it. After a couple of months in the office, my neurologist in Boston said I had to get done with my job. She cautioned that the more I pushed my brain beyond its post-stroke capabilities, the more damage I was causing. I left feeling both validated and defeated all at the same time. The career I had studied so hard for had been ripped away. My leg was not dependable, even with the AFO, to allow me to be safe for patient care. My brain was not reliable for a typical 9-to-5 job because it would shut down on me at random, forcing me to nap. I needed a new plan for life. After all, I still had two kids to take care of.

I had a decision to make. I could either choose to focus on what the stroke has taken from me or make the most of the abilities I still have. As you can see, I have chosen the latter. I keep running both for my own health and enjoyment and also to raise awareness and funding for fellow stroke survivors. In December, I will be running a marathon as an advocate through The Stroke Foundation to raise funds to cover therapy sessions for fellow stroke survivors. In addition to running, I found work my brain enjoys and can tolerate and even turned it into a business. In April of 2025, I started a gardening business so I could help others install, maintain, and restore their gardens. Being outside a lot has helped decrease the “stroke brain” episodes (as I call them), and it provides work with more flexible hours. This year we added a greenhouse with flower and veggie sales to the business, so I have been keeping up with that as well. My brain struggles with the bookwork side of things, and I have to do such work in small blocks of time. There are days my brain forces me to slow down and work less. I have to give myself grace and am grateful for a husband and kids who fully support this endeavor and the rather unconventional method my brain requires me to follow.

As you read my stroke story, know that you have a decision to make as well. I hope you are inspired to shift your perspective to focus on what you CAN do today and each day to improve not only your life but the lives of those around you as well. Life is full of surprises. Some are good; others feel like a low blow. I write to encourage you not to merely slosh through life’s marathon with your head down and enthusiasm low. Push forward one step at a time with your head held high and Survive to Thrive!