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| Brian and Jan Healy (photo courtesy of the Healys) |
My wife, Deborah, saw an article in Sasee Magazine, a local women's publication, written by Jan Healy about a book that she and her husband Brian had written. Brian had a massive stroke on August 5, 2009 and they wrote a book together about his recovery called Navigating Through the Fog: The Story of a Stroke Survivor and the Woman who Loves Him
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Their website where you can purchase their book
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Their blog where you can keep updated on what they are doing
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I have read their book and I recommend it to anyone who has recently been impacted by stroke.
I have read their book and I recommend it to anyone who has recently been impacted by stroke.
Brian had such a massive stroke and made such a great recovery due to his attitude, his hard work, a loving and very supportive wife, and good therapy. His attitude and recovery very much fit into what I hope to bring to people who watch my DVD. He has become an advocate for stroke recovery by speaking and bringing his story of hope to as many people as he can.
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Brian Healy speaking at the Orange County Stroke Rehab Network Stroke Awareness Picnic 2010: Living Well After Stroke |
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ReplyDeleteKatherine Wolf was a 26-year-old wife and new mother breaking into the commercial modeling business in Los Angeles when she felt a little “funky” one morning. She wondered if she might be pregnant again.
ReplyDeleteSuddenly, as her 6-month-old son was napping, her hands, arms and legs went numb. Katherine dropped to the floor and curled up.
Her husband, Jay, happened to come home that afternoon. He called 9-1-1, and Katherine was rushed to the hospital.
She would soon spend 16 hours undergoing surgery on her brain.
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Katherine had suffered a massive brain stem stroke. Doctors now know she was born with an arteriovenous malformation, or AVM. That’s when a tangle of blood vessels bypasses and diverts blood directly from arteries to the veins, which can cause damage to the blood vessel walls. In Katherine’s case, the AVM ruptured and caused bleeding into her brain.
Doctors removed part of Katherine’s brain during surgery. They didn’t know if Katherine would survive or, if she did, whether she would ever be off life support.
She spent 40 days in intensive care and nearly four months overall at UCLA Medical Center, then moved to Casa Colina rehabilitation center. She re-learned basics like eating, speaking and walking.
“Literally, everything was gone,” she said.
It was 11 months before Katherine could swallow food again. Until then, she was fed through a tube in her stomach. Katherine managed to take a few steps about a year and a half after the stroke. Today, she can walk a short distance with a cane; she also uses a wheelchair.
This past summer, Katherine, now 30, fell and broke her right leg in multiple places. That setback required surgery to place a rod in her leg.
Since her stroke, she has had nine surgeries. She continues to experience severe double vision, partial facial paralysis, partial deafness and lack of right hand coordination. abogado españa veterinario por internet medico online abogado online consulta online veterinario online psicologo por internet ginecologo online dermatologo online pediatra online doctor por internet medico por internet abogado por internet abogado online psicologo online doctor online However, she’s emerged with her personality and memory intact – along with her optimistic spirit.
“We do not have control over what happens to us in life,” she said. “What we have control over is our response to what happened to us.”
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Katherine relies on her Christian faith as she enjoys daily life with Jay and her son, James, now 5. She is grateful the stroke occurred at home, not while she was driving with James, and that Jay unexpectedly came home that day.
“I don’t believe in happenstance,” she said. “I feel like he was home to save my life.”
Jay had been finishing work for his final law school class at Pepperdine University. He jokes that his procrastination saved Katherine’s life.