Today is my anniversary. It has been sixteen years since the stroke on June 9, 1992. It is a time to assess what I have been able to do in my life since the event and plan for the future.
Sixteen years ago, when I was 43-years old, life was so very different. I was fighting to stay alive. Like so many other stroke heroes that have come before and after me, I fought the battle of rehabilitation in and out of the safe environment of the hospital. Today, I reflect on the struggle other stroke heroes are going through. My thoughts and prayers are with them as they struggle to re-learn to walk and talk, move their limbs and try to assimilate all things happening around them.
Today, I work as a Peer-to-Peer Stroke Visitor at my local rehabilitation hospital talking with stroke heroes and their families about life after stroke. Also, twice a month I present an informal stroke program to several stroke survivors at the rehabilitation facility. Our local Stroke Survivor Meetings, sponsored by the hospital, is another avenue in which I volunteer.
I have had the great opportunity to live independently since stroke changed my life. I have grown deeply since the experience. Two beautiful granddaughters have been born in the last ten years. They only know me as "grandma," not a grandma that had a stroke. A grandson in due to enter this world in October and I am knitting a blanket for his debut as we speak. Yes, I am knitting! After a twenty year sabbatical, I have returned to another of my hobbies. It is difficult to hold the needle with my affected hand without missing a stitch or two, but I'm trying anyway. If the blanket, when finished, contains a missed stitch, it will still be lovingly made by grandma.
I have not forgotten that the most important key to living a full life after stroke is to LIVE. Time is a gift. Relationships need to be nurtured to grow. My family is a testament to that fact. Life goes on and I don't want to miss a single thread of it.
So to everyone who has ever been affected by stroke, families and most certainly other stroke heroes, I commemorate this anniversary to you. Know that today may be that slipped stitch in that blanket of life but that there are many more stitches to go before it is finished.
Your Peer,
Cleo Hutton
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