Imagine feeling trapped in your own body with no way to communicate with the outside world. This is how Brisa Alfaro felt at 4 years ago when she suffered a stroke which resulted in Locked-in Syndrome. Be inspired by how she broke through all odds by keeping a positive mindset every step of her recovery.
I believe we’ve all asked ourselves “Why Me?” at one point of our lives…Why did this have to happen to ME? And “Why Now!?” I found myself asking these very same questions about four years ago. Little did I know that I was about to survive a rare and severe “pons stroke” while I was on a business trip in New York City.
Did you know that Strokes can happen at any age? Anyone at any age at any point in their lives can have a stroke. And I was no rare exception to this rule. We certainly never expect for these things to happen when they do, and it’s just never really the right time when it does. I was a very busy 32 year old, I was traveling and teaching in the beauty industry, I was living a busy, but great life. But regardless of my schedule, future plans or goals…it happened. March 29, 2014 changed my life forever.
My case was very different than a typical right or left side stroke. It didn’t happen in my brain, it happened in my brainstem. Your brainstem controls ALL basic activities in the human body except your eyes. So what this means is that you can have a thought like, “I want to move my arm,” but those signals don’t travel through appropriately, leaving your body resembling a vegetative state….and trapped.
Think of a town, the town is your brain and your main highway going into that town is your brainstem. Now something canhappen within this town (east or west), and you may not be able to enter that area right away or until it’s somewhat repaired, however if something happens to your “brainstem” this is your only highway going out of that town and now you’re “locked in” and really can’t communicate to others that you are in what I call “Brain Jail” because your body is awake and aware of everything around you, but you are physically left motionless and essentially locked in your own body. I guess that’s why it’s given the name “Locked-in Syndrome”. #BrainJail
Meanwhile, I was given a less than a 1% chance of survival, but I knew I had to give my family a sign that I was not going to succumb to the inevitable fate that my doctors had prescribed. I did! I started with my right hand and little by little I was making more and more movements that completely puzzled my doctors.
I was like a newborn baby learning EVERYTHING all over again only as an adult…and hiding the fact that I was so extremely scared. But nevertheless I kept forward! I started by holding up my own head, then standing with support, then sitting up in a wheelchair, then walking with a walker, then later with a cane and eventually I was able to walk unassisted. Before I could breathe on my own, I was receiving oxygen through my trachea. Before I could eat, I was fed through a tube that had been placed in my stomach. And before I could speak, I pointed to letters on a paper that contained the alphabet. But I still found it inside of me to celebrate every milestone, no matter how big or small. Any simple task that I may have taken for granted in the past, was now celebrated as if I had completed a marathon, because that’s what it physically felt like….daily.
It was exhausting, even getting dressed in the morning was a new daily challenge and goal that I had to meet. I knew that this journey was not going to be easy, but I also didn’t think that this was going to be my destiny. I was going to find a way to overcome it and I did! But imagine if I had just stopped when it became too difficult for me to keep going? You see, life is ultimately what we make of it and what we choose to do with the cards that we’re dealt. We can keep complaining about our so called “fate” or “luck” or we can change it. Receiving help should be welcomed, but ultimately it is up to us.
You see, good or bad LIFE is going to happen, and actually…I wouldn’t have it any other way! So when you wake up tomorrow, YOU get to decide on how you want to view the world and how you want to live in it. We can always easily focus on all the negative around us or choose to purposely find the positive. This is why I choose to share my story on many different platforms, because my hope is that this message helps you realize that life is just is too short to keep having bad days. Let’s really try to focus on those positive, and not just say that we are. Yes, we can have bad moments in our days but let that just be a moment and maybe not marinate in that moment for too long, because it is important for us to move on and just enjoy the rest of our beautiful day that we were given. It’s not always easy to do, I know. But neither is catching that curveball that was thrown to you at lightning speed. So when life throws you a curveball, remember how strong you are, dust yourself off AND GET BACK UP. Keep playing this game of life, Never Ever Ever give up and please join me in having #NoMoreBadDays.
To continue to follow Brisa’s journey, follow her at @Brisa_Alfaro_ on Instagram and check out her website at www.BrisaAlfaro.com. Also check out her story on “The Doctors” show: https://youtu.be/6C9tg_T1X9o. Connect with more stroke and brain injury survivors on the YouSoRock Facebook Support Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/yousorock.
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