What Stroke Survivors Can Teach The Health And Wellness Community

May is Stroke Awareness Month, which basically means that the American Heart Association and the CDC are going to run a lot of adds about Prevention. This is important and needed work. The general public needs to know that every forty seconds someone in the United States has a stroke and that every year 795,000 people are afflicted with this condition. I have personally referred to the F.A.C.E acronym, when my client had a stroke. This is vital work, but I want people to know more than statistics.

I still have a hard time dissociating a stroke victim from a little old lady and I work with survivors every single day as a neuro rehab specialist. They do not look like what you think they look like. A stroke victim is a young banker who just turned 40, a beautiful blonde teacher in her late 30s, a new mom in her late 20s, a hot-shot lawyer in his early 60s, a hard tattooed motorcyclist in his early 50s, and a 15 year old girl with a rare disorder. These people are healthy and were surprised by stroke. These people are you and me. They read healthy magazines, go to yoga classes, eat vegan, and listen to podcasts. The only difference is that they have had a life changing event where they almost died.

Stroke survivors exercise more, stretch more, pray more, and eat better than anyone in an exercise magazine. However, there faces and their stories are not often included, because Stroke and Brain Injury are dirty words in the Health and Wellness community. Yes, stroke should be avoided and we need to talk more about knowing your blood pressure and getting regular check ups, but there is more to be learned from a stroke survivor than how to avoid being a stroke survivor.

Martha Graham said “Fire is the test of Gold; Adversity of strong men.” Stroke survivors are the gold of humanity. They have been tried and tested and their wisdom is unparalleled. If you need a wellness guru, call that neglected friend who has been going through some tough stuff. Stroke survivors should be venerated like old village elders not avoided like the literal plague. You cannot catch a stroke, but a stroke survivor’s wisdom and authenticity is contagious.

A stroke survivor can lose their power of speech, their ability to walk, their ability to read, their ability to write, but “still like air they RISE.” To hear the story of a stroke survivor and witness the change that they have overcome is to be inspired and awake to the possibilities of the human mind. Jill Bolte Taylor, a neurologist and stroke survivor, details not only the science behind having a stroke, but the experience of having a severe stroke. She argues for the capacity of the human mind to overcome disability of the body. Her take away: “Who are we? We are the life force of the Universe” and “we have the power to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in this world.” What can we learn from a stroke survivor? Stroke Survivors teach us how to be open to change,  how to achieve true wellness or the holy grail of well-being that is peace and true gratitude for this very moment.