It was a normal day. I was at work getting ready to finish up and head home for the day. I was alone when the first stroke came. I had no signs. My legs just melted out from under me and I passed out. I continued to pass out, time after time, as I tried to figure out how to get help to save myself, each time I came to. Finally I was successful. 

Help arrived and they called 911. Paramedics arrived and they acted quickly to transport me to the hospital where I was quickly diagnosed with a stroke and given tPA, a clot busting drug. If issued within three to four and a half hours window, it can be effective to help a stroked person to rehabilitate. My tPA IV drip was less than five minutes from being complete and I suffered a second stroke. This one was much worse and affected my internal organs. My heart and lungs were among the organs affected. My lungs were not working at all and my heart was beating so erratically it could not sustain my life.

Two attempts were made to cardio-vert my heart without success. I was intubated and placed in ICU. My family was told all they could do is wait to see if my brain was able to get my lungs and heart to function well enough to sustain life. Three days later I was strong enough to breath on my own so intubation was removed. Thus began a 14-year journey to this year. It took years of rehabilitation, multiple heart surgeries to get and keep my heart at a proper rhythm. The years included other health issues; some not related to the strokes. There were year after year of personal, professional and physical struggles to overcome in a life where nothing would ever be the same again. Nothing.

This year I am the 2026 Heart Walk Honoree for the Southern Teir. I was grateful to be asked because I share about my strokes for a reason. So everyone will realize that they must pay attention to the messages their body is giving them.  We generally know when something is not right. I knew something was wrong as I had AFIB. But I was busy. Everyone gets AFIB when they get older, I was told. For five years I did very little to improve my heath because I was so busy working, running a household, supporting my family and continuing my education so I could stay viable in the workplace.

But it took two seconds for a stroke to occur and those two seconds changed my world as I knew it. I was only 56 and I could not walk, talk, write, or remember things I knew I had learned before.  I had just completed my master’s degree with honors and it was gone. Poof. Two seconds.

Is your health what it should be? You can start today by figuring out what your blood pressure and heart rate are. What is normal for you at whatever age you are? Get your baseline and start keeping track. Because the numbers matter. Start going for a walk every day. Simple things really. But they could save your life. If you begin to understand your health marker numbers and start moving your body, you will begin to see these two small but mighty things matter.

So please join me for the Heart Walk April 26th. If you cannot walk then please consider donating to my walk. I walk because I now can. Thank you.