On May 2, 2023, at age 16, I had a hemorrhagic stroke caused by a ruptured AVM. I was alone and I must have felt something was wrong because I called 911. It was a miracle that I was able to do that. All they could hear was gurgling sounds. The police showed up first and were able to find me. I was unresponsive and in really bad shape. The medics quickly arrived and took me to the closest hospital where my parents were told to basically say goodbye to me. Since I was under 18, medics took me to Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The trauma team was waiting that included Dr. Leonard. He explained to my parents that I had a ruptured AVM with a significant bleed. He placed a drain in my brain, and I spent 6 days on a ventilator in the PICU. I was very sick and sometimes it took many nurses in my room to keep me alive. For the weeks to come, I was able to recover faster than the doctors had expected. I am still recovering with the help of my great team including Dr. Leonard and Dr. Youssef from Ohio State. I had gamma knife treatment on November 2, 2023 at Ohio State and then a week later I had an embolization. Life was pretty hard for me for a long time. Nothing made me happy. I spent a lot of time just waiting to go to bed. I remained very positive in order to work on my recovery. It was a miracle I called 911 on that day so someone was on my side. It slowly did get better and I enjoy more things. I have been in physical therapy and this summer I did speech therapy and occupational therapy. The hard part is waiting for the gamma knife to work. If anything positive has come from my AVM rupture is that I now live life to the fullest. I enjoy the simple things in life – my dogs and Dave Matthews Band. I joined the Niekro Foundation young adult support group to meet more people. I always have to remind myself that I am getting better each day.
Connecting with the Niekro Foundation has benefited me because I joined the young adult support group. Seeing smiles on their faces is very contagious. It shows me that I am not alone in this journey. I am also going to be a mentor for other survivors in the Niekro Foundation teen support group. I want to give back by helping younger kids that have been through this too.
My words of advice and hope to other survivors is every story is different but know that you are not alone. Take your time in your own recovery. Give yourself grace and patience. Recovery does not happen overnight.
