young survivors

I am Rachel from Texas. I was a 26 year old corporate attorney in May 2019 when I had a massive ischemic stroke in my sleep. I was flown in a helicopter piloted by my husband to the ICU where I had a thrombectomy through intravenous surgery. The stroke cause the left side of my body to be paralyzed and damaged my cognitive skills.

I spent a month inpatient relearning to walk and speak somewhat clearly as doctors discovered the cause of my stroke was a blood clotting disorder, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. Due to this disorder, my doctor informed me I was infertile as the disorder combined with my history of stroke is incompatible with pregnancy. I was discharged from inpatient with only minor limitations to my legs and speech, but with continued paralysis of my arm and cognitive impairments. I felt so isolated as a young adult who had lost the career which I had worked so hard to build up, until I found other young survivors online. The night after I found other Young Survivors online, I dreamed about speaking to them.

I intensely believed in regaining my old life as a fully functional attorney. In search of a higher level of cognitive rehab than speech therapists could provide, I began a Master’s degree program while still attending outpatient rehab. I completed a LLM in tax law at New York University school of law in 2022. After completing my Master’s I began challenging my infertility diagnosis by pursuing motherhood through surrogacy. My sister gave birth to my son in 2023. Although I have never given up on full recovery, I have raised my son with the functional use of only one of my hands.

Now six years after my stroke, I work every day with the intention of regaining the use of my left hand, hoping that I can some day I can leave the stroke and its damage behind.

I have had the uniquely challenging experience of learning how to parent as a one-handed mom. Insurance no longer will cover me attending therapy on a regular basis so I have had to shift my focus to home rehab. Staying motivated to keep up the daily hours of self-driven home therapy needed to improve has been a continual challenge for me since I discharged from my full day outpatient program. I have found the best motivation comes from other survivors, and I am not alone in my experience of insurance giving up too early. I am passionate about sharing with the young survivor community the devices and exercises I have found to be helpful. I believe firmly that there should be no pay wall or pre-set limitation to recovery and that the limitations that doctors and some discouraged survivors place on the recovery potential of survivors is purely due to their lack of information. My goal with my activity in the survivor community is to share information that allows others to improve their recovery and inform the medical community of the potential survivors contain so long as they are given the full opportunity to recover.

Follow Rachel's recovery on Instagram @surviving.26