Stroke at 18 Years Old

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that I had when I was 18 years old. My my childhood growing up was I was I had you know three siblings. I I had a mom all everyone has mom of that but like I had my parents there and

“growing up I did like a ton of sports. I was very active. I played volleyball basketball.”

I did gymnastics. So I loved being like doing all those and that it would have me doing

them year round or I wasn't like never not doing something and so I just loved you know

sports. I loved being like being a part of sports and yeah I and I never knew something was wrong with me into like you know the stroke happened. So prior to that clean bill of health. Yes. Nothing. Yeah. Okay. Like I was I was perfectly healthy. I was I every time it's I went to the doctor they were like oh yeah you're good. Right. I'm like you're fine and I and I and I would be like oh okay well I'm fine and they say I'm fine and I'll just

“believe them. Yeah you're not going to question it. Especially when you're young. Yes I'm like I'm”

I'm I'm especially like I'm not going to like question my like my doctors because obviously I'm like they're the professional on this and I'm not so I am like oh well I'm fine so and yeah growing up I just had a normal childhood. I had a it was not anything out of the no ordinary um my parents did get divorced which you know should have happened you know like they just did not like work out they were just I loved them both but they do not mix well together. Yeah so like I

am like it's fine and it's it's it's better now but when I in 2019 I graduated from high school I was just like you know starting my life like going to college and you know figuring what I wanted to do in this life and I at the time I didn't know really what I wanted to do I didn't know like what I wanted to do like pass like for a job or anything and so I just was I was just thinking maybe I'll just take a gap here of like you know just figuring my stuff out

before I actually go to college and or maybe I was like maybe I can do my generals get that over with and then like figure out what I want to actually do and so that was like my thought process of it because I was really like I don't know I don't know you really have no idea what I wanted to do and so I graduated in May last end of May of 2019 and or earlier that year my my great aunt passed away my grandma's sister and I was very very close to

her I like I it was just not it was somebody that was very close to me the some people are very close with like you know great answer great like yeah yeah like you're not even like your cousins it's like it's it's just but our family we were I was very close to her we would

always go to like power together and we'd always go to their house for Christmas Eve you know

because they always did like a Christmas Eve party and they would always host it and we would like all of our family like even extended like would go and be there and they just

spend it with them and yeah and my yes she died that to pass that same year and we in

“August they were planning on going down to Lake Powell and you know spreading some of her ashes”

around like Powell like yeah because I was her favorite place to be and so in August they were planning on doing that and I was like I want to go I want to be there for all my family because I know that all the like the rest of my family like my cousins and uncles and all of them were all all going my my mom and my I wasn't going because my sister was actually getting buried

two weeks after that trip or even like even after that trip when it was done it would be like a

week until her wedding so they're just planning on staying back and my brothers had

“sports that was going on during that time so they didn't like end up going either so I was just”

the only one that was able to go with like for my family like I I was just the one to be able to you know go for us and I was I was glad and I was able to go because I love like Powell and I love like all the things that you could do there like boat like water ski water a wakeboard wake surf and tubing I just loved all of it I loved doing all the things that you could do down like Powell and like when you just spend that time with like family too that

like is a really special thing for me to you know be there with family because my grandma was coming and my grandma and grandpa were coming just like for like a couple days for like the sputting up her ashes and because obviously that was her sister and so she came came down she she was well she she's still old but she was very old at the time so being outside all the time wasn't was no air conditioning wasn't like you know yeah a lot for her and then um but she

really wanted me there for her sister and um I to this day I still very much admire my grandma

“for that and the day where you know the whole stroke happened I remember waking up and I felt pretty”

pretty like awful and it felt good um I just started my monthly cycle was a fun monthly cycle so I was like maybe it's that I like I'm like I made maybe I'm just being dramatic and I just don't all like it's what were the symptoms that you were feeling I just felt like sick to my stomach um I felt like not right if that makes sense like I knew something was not right but I was like

maybe it's yeah like me starting my monthly cycle my my and uh because I don't have like I always get

very sick one that happened so how I just try to play it off it's like oh it's just it's just that and so my grandma and grandpa were um going home that day planning on going home and I was just like in my like I don't feel good and I I miss home and I miss like my family I'll go down to the dock or dropping off my my grandparents off to their car so I can be able to call my my my mom and see like if I should go home and I because where like we parked our house but we don't have

any service there and so yeah when we have to get service we have to go to the dock do you know get service and you know talk to everybody and so I when my aunt was taking my my grandparents down to the to the dock and letting them you know like helping them I get to where they need to go and so I just ask oh like can I join like is it possible for me to join and they're like yeah sure

my uncle my my grandparents and then my my cousin Jordan and then my cousin Scott or we're all

like much older than me and I was at 18 at the time they were like almost 24 maybe 25 and then the other one was like 28 29 something like that I like they are very like much much older than me so all of us collectively like got together and went to go job them off and I just

“remember like film like I don't know I don't know like what I want to do I don't if I should go home”

worship like if I should stay like me I'll probably get my answer from you know calling my mom

and seeing what she wants me to do I had like two more days and then I will I will we would be

going home anyway but I was like I'm like yeah not feeling good but also I'm like very homesick I'm a person who like I get very homesick when like my my family isn't there and yeah I'm just like I'm the same way yeah no like I'm like I love I am yeah like I love to be home I love like I like I love the one my family get to like you know to be there and I even though there were my extended family who I got to hang out with and I love you know spending time with them

I I still was like I just miss my my family and um so I we get to the dock and dropping my grandparents off and I remember calling my mom and we were like hey and she was at like Costco and I was like hey yeah like can you talk just like yeah I'm just with Haley Haley's my sister getting stuff for the wedding it's was like at this time I wish coming up in like her a week and a half or something about two weeks and they're like hey we're like how are you feeling

how are you doing and I was like oh like I'm feeling kind of sick I'm feeling kind of homesick as well and I'm like I don't know like what I should do I should like go home or like not go home

“and because I only have two more days often she's like my mom was like yeah you should stay you”

should you know spend time with like you're the rest of your family like rest of the family because we don't let get together that often at that time. Hi guys just a reminder that my merch is live and you can use code insane 10 for 10% off your order all you have to do is go to we're all insane dot com. So she was like yeah I'd like just be there for our family and you only have two more days left and you can just come home but if you if the sickness continues then obviously

you can come home like you're it I don't want to like push you but I think I think you only have two more days left and you might feel better by you know that like the closest and today like

you never know and so I just thought like yeah like I only have two more days and I love being

at Lake Powell and I like get to do all the things and so I just thought you know like I can just tough it up and this time we was like 10 a.m. in the morning like like Sunday night that like 10 11 a.m. and I was like yeah like I'll just stay and so we drop off my grandparents and at that time we it was just my me, my aunt, my uncle, my aunt, my mom's sister, my uncle and my two cousins, Jordan and Scott and we were just thinking oh like what should we do should we like you know

two should we like wake surf like what should we do and we heard that the other boat that had some of my other family on it that we're using that boat to wake surf and so we're like oh like we should do be the tubing boat so if like anyone wants the two they can like leave

“off of that boat to come over here if you want to wake surf they can you can go on to that but like”

other boat and we can just switch off whichever like one you want to do and so we're just thinking

be tubing with like people who are much older than me I like their boys and they they like to

“go fast and I wish I was like I like to go fast too and so I was like I'd tell on my aunt and”

I'll I was like you don't have to like you know slow down just for me I like to you know I can keep on yeah I can keep up with them I got you know you don't have to worry about me and I'll be fine and they're just like okay like what we won't do that like we will just you know go and then if it's not too much for you you can just say like you know don't do that

but you can like do you know slow it down and so I was like okay and so we start you know

getting the tube out and then you're starting it up and we start you know charting to tube and then I remember we were going and we had this like but like a wipe like a pretty big wipe out and we're like all like laughing you know like wow that was like so crazy like like like I was just so insane like that's just so while we were thinking like oh that was so fun even though we wiped out but you know it was still fun to me and so we had two tubes we like

one I had my cousin Jordan on it and then one of them had me in my cousin Scott on it and then we would just jump from tube to tube like going you know like yeah doing our thing like we just

“you know playing around and yeah but like that's what we were doing and all right remember like”

our second time after our big wipe out we start going we weren't going very fast at all

we were just like starting to go and you know getting you know started and so I remember like the beginning I remember like I feel like very very weird like not not right at all I just remember like like looking around and being like this doesn't it feel right this doesn't feel real like I don't know what's happening I I don't know what's going on but I want to like worry my family so I try to like not tell them because I was like oh like maybe it'll pass like

maybe it'll just yeah maybe it'll just figure it itself out and so I just like you know we're just like feeling yeah not not right I felt like all the energy was being drained from my body like super fast

“and I just remember like it got so hard like stay awake and I I was I just was I I don't even”

remember if my cousin like was asking me if I was like okay I died I was just so I don't know even though at that point like what was happening and I know that we were going very fast and then I just remember my right arm stopped working and so it let go of the tube and so like and then I like crashed into my my cousin Scott and then I like flew off the tube which was like very unlike me because we weren't going like fast at all we weren't doing like had no bumps we wouldn't

weren't doing anything but like I just fell off and literally had the stroke while tubing yeah yeah and I I got I wiped out I like landed into the water thankfully out of life jacket on so I was able to just stay afloat because if I if I didn't have the life jacket on I don't know if I would have been able to my probably what is sank because I had no idea what was like I I know idea and like I probably would have like you know at that point I was just like so close

to like passing out I don't even know what what would happen yeah and yeah thankfully at the life jacket and they came around my aunt and uncle and they like came a big like we're trying to like come pick me up like are you okay that like you wiped out and we were going very fast like are you

like I'm okay but I couldn't I couldn't say anything I tried to get words out but I physically could not yeah I knew what I want to say but I couldn't like I felt like did you feel like your whole body

was paralyzed basically or was it just outside I I felt like everything was like that point was like

shutting down and so I was I tried to you know say it but like I couldn't and so I just shook my head and like to say yeah I'm like I'm fine I'm so I just shook my head yes and then just like no we're gonna need a verbal answer for like we need to know that you're okay and I but I couldn't I couldn't get any words out so I just I just I just said you might shook my head and I like I couldn't say yes I couldn't say like no or I couldn't say anything and that's when my aunt was like yeah like

maybe we'll you know get back on the table and then we'll point in and we can like yeah assess you and like let you take a breather and like that's just like what were we're playing on doing we were like let's just let's just take a break and so I tried to get back on the tube from the water but I couldn't because like everything was like shutting down some like my cut my cousin Scott had to lift me back on the tube and when I got back on the tube like

“I just remember like that time I was like yeah like I need to lay down I knew laid down so I was”

like laying on the tube and and then they were like pulling us in and I just I just remember like after that nothing like I I passed out I won their pulling us in because I don't it was just a point I like no like everything was like gone like I felt like everything scared I yeah I feel like I felt scared because I didn't know what was happening and didn't know

I've never felt this ever and so I was like am I dying or am I not or am I just like

having like a weird episode like what's happening and I that's when I like passed out and I

“just remember waking to my uncle driving super fast on the water”

and waking to my other uncle that was on the other boat they went and picked him up when I was you know out and I was passed out and they went to go pick him up because they didn't know what was happening with me and so they wanted you know help from him as well and he is my mom's brother so they they just wanted some extra hands and you know like because they when I was passed out they were trying to like you know revive me and they saw you know the droop started to

happen and then you know on that one side of my body and my aunt knew what was happening but she didn't know for sure because she's not a doctor anything but she was like oh no this is like

serious she's like out and because that's the first like beginning they're like oh maybe she just

has a concussion like maybe it's happened then they saw the droop started to happen and they're

“like no I and my aunt was thinking there so I think oh this is like serious so they were like”

we got to get to the dock and get her some help we got to call an ambulance we got to you know we have to do this we have to call our mom and like if to call my sister and we had to do all this and so I was like at that point they were just getting water from the lake and dumping it on me to try to like you know awake me and because I was still out and then by doing that that it I did oh like like mad did wake me because I should remember them dumping water and I was just like I'm not like number

and they're like oh hey maybe to stay awake like like are you okay like you we need to like to stay awake we we can't have you going back like you can't having you pass out again on this

then she was being drained out like still yeah I was like I can't like there's no way that

“I'm gonna be able to stay awake and I just remember my my cousin Scott he was like holding me”

and while we're on the boat and then they just can continue to dump water on on me and so I felt like that also had like it that helped me stay awake because having called water on dumped onions and I don't know no prevents yeah yeah prevent they definitely prevents it for me and I remember at that time if you know anything about like pal it was like 12 1 p.m. and at that time like the water is just so crazy because everyone's out doing stuff

there's like out like you know tubing like you know like getting their houseboat like taking

you in and taking it out they don't like they're all like people were like always up in doing

“something so the waters are always so crazy during that time but I remember it being just so like”

smooth and glass like and like it was it was just so crazy how because if it's you know choppy in like crazy as it would have been during that time would have been much harder for my uncle to drive fast so like they can get me to you know yeah get me help and but it was just yeah like it was like glass it was it was so clear and smooth and they were able to drive like

much faster than they thought they would and I for one thought that was a miracle and and it's

own right and and then my aunt she was trying to find service but you know if you know I think about like pal you only places that you can get service or dogs okay and that from where we were that was not the case at all we were not close to a dog at all and my my I just remember my aunt trying to find service and then and she was just like oh well yeah I got on I know I'm not gonna get service when I'm gonna check to see if like God is out there

in you know and like maybe the old give us service I don't know like oh yeah and then well for whatever reasons she was she was able to get service like two or three bars were usually like every like 99.9% of the time there's no service at all and she got service and that was when they were driving you on the boat yeah and to to get me to the dog and get service and she was able to get service before them and so she was like oh my gosh and so

she was able to call an ambulance for me so she she was able to call that and and then she was able to call my mom who was four hours away four or five hours away and then from my mom was telling me she just remembers my aunt being you know has like hysterical being like you

“like not hysterical but like acting scared and being like you need to get down here now”

and I try you don't know what's happening with Courtney she may have had it a concussion but she knew what was happening but with me and she knew it wasn't a concussion belt she she she didn't know like she she just like was just like I feel like too it's like a big thing to be like oh she's having a stroke without actually knowing it's like you can you know yeah I think it but not be sure yes and like she's again she's not a doctor her fan like her

not yeah and it's hard because you were doing an activity so it's like naturally you think oh maybe something happened right yeah and like I like I crashed into my yeah my cousin and like flew off and they're just like maybe they hit heads or you know something something like that and so I just my mom was just telling me that she called me like calder and she's like you need to get down here now and she's just like where we're and they're like well I like they were

yeah I just need you to just start heading here now and so my mom hopped in their car

“you know as fast as she could you know getting stuff from home and then like hopped in a car”

and it was starting to drive down to like pal because you really didn't know what was happening if I was gonna stay there if I was going to you know either the the closest hospitals were in either Nevada or Arizona as the day wraps up get this scoop on what's been happening with here's the scoop a new podcast from NBC News with me your host Gazzlin to sugyip we'll take a deep dive into the day's top stories with NBC News's trusted journalist

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and conversations that are shaping our world the front page to the zeitgeist here's the scoop from NBC News listen daily on Spotify our same George yeah Arizona I shouldn't do George so she's like I'm just gonna head to like pal and tell her here is something different and we got to the dock I remember and there was nobody there nobody there on there just like not even the ambulance wasn't the ambulance wasn't there yet and um they're just like

“you need to find somebody you need to find somebody and the only they found somebody and there was”

only two people on the dock and they're like we need like like like you help like my

something's happened to our niece and we needed to help and they came and you know starting assessing me and they're like like do you know like any medical stuff and they're like oh like they were a father and an a daughter and they're they both were the father was a doctor and now and the the daughter was a nurse that's crazy yeah and so they were able to like you know come and says me and you know like do all these things you know to like try to figure

like what was happening and then they're like yeah you need to get like like like like a lifeline out here like now ambulance here you need a lifeline out here she needs to she's I haven't

“to stroke and then my they knew yeah and my my I am remember I was just like I knew it”

like I knew it and I got I wasn't going crazy I wasn't going crazy but like they she needs to get to a hospital for them to confirm what what's happening but she looks like she's having a stroke and so um oh she's like oh my gosh oh like we need to get like ambulance out here and then like a couple minutes go by on the ambulance arrived and they got me into ambulance and I just remember feeling like the energy wasn't being drained out of my body but I still wasn't

able to talk yeah and so I was like I just remember getting into the ambulance I couldn't walk or anything so they had to like you know put me on a stretcher and you know like put me in and then actually it like started assessing me I get into the ambulance doing all these things like all what what your name like worry from yeah like do you know anything I need that and then I like gonna answer again I answer like what's my name I I only could shake my head yes or no

but I at this time like I knew that all the energy wasn't being drained out of my body so I'm like oh I'm fine I'm but like I'm fine now like I'm fine I don't need like all this I feel like this this all is like crazy but I'm in to stroke me wasn't being like oh like wasn't all in the head like right in the head because like I was like thinking like I couldn't talk and I'm like I know that like I shouldn't have been like I don't know how normal things for me so I'm like maybe

you probably did yeah you you need people there you like you need all that because you can't talk and this whole thing just happened to you and you still can't talk and you don't know like really what's going on and I can really really like move my right side like my right arm like my right leg I can I can move it a little bit but like not as much as you would think and

and then they after they were done assessing me they're like yeah we're gonna get life light up here

she needs to get to hospital and yeah and then they're like you know where you're sending her and they're like they're probably gonna send her to Saint George region home it's hospital down in Saint George Utah and they were just thinking my my family from Utah were from Utah so like they're gonna be the closest hospital in Saint George Utah so they're probably gonna be setting her there and they're like okay so my I my aunt called my mom they're like they're

gonna be sending her to Saint George original the lifelighting her to the hospital and so that's

“where you need to go and my mom was like oh my gosh like it's that's so far away like I'm”

gonna be driving for four hours like she's gonna get there and have nobody at the hospital because my uncle was who was with me at like pal what like tried to ask the lifelight if if she if he could have come with me because I remember at the time he was he promised me like while everything was happening that's enough like lead my side and not you know you would you know

do everything in this power to not leave me and they they just were like now it's like

already too full with everybody on board like all like the paramedics on on play and it's just that it's not gonna go it's not gonna work and how long was the flight to the hospital it was like an hour I feel like okay so it was it was far yeah and I like I don't like maybe 45 minutes

“and it's was a very fuzzy to me like I don't know but I just remember it not being like a super”

quick flight but I really don't remember how long it was but I'm thinking maybe 30 minutes to like 45 or 30 minutes 45 minutes something around there so my mom had the broad idea to call my my aunt my her sister that who lives in Vegas and Vegas from St George is like an hour and a half and St George's up where I live Syracuse is like four hours and so she had the why I did to call her her sister and to get on the phone and be like you like something's happened to Courtney you

need it like head there right now she needs somebody there with her well everything is going on like while everything is happening and so my aunt drops everything and you know head starts heading to the state George and I just remember reading like though like my my uncle he was giving trying to give me a blessing and he was asking if anybody if anybody out there was like holds the priesthood that could help him give me a blessing for my time and need you know

to be able to fill comfort fill peace and holding the priesthood means that you like are given the like the erotic priesthood the Melchizedek priesthood on this case I think it's the Melchizedek

“priesthood that you need to like need to hold to be able to help give me a blessing and so that's like the”

highest you know on like highest thing that a person can hold in our religion and it's not something that you can get like very easily something if like you know continue to work for and my two of my cousins at the time the my Jordan Scott more didn't hold the the priesthood at that time so they weren't able to you know help give me a blessing but you want to ask if there was any more out there and one of the life like paramedics was like I hold the priesthood like you know you give your

blessing so they both gave me a blessing while I was on the stretcher and before I got into the the heralicopter and the lifelight and so I just remember him I just tell me I I can't go with you I can't like I know I's how much to be with you and but

they that's what they're gonna do like I'm like I know there's no room for me and I better your

your mom's on her way I like I will you know because we still had everything on the boat we I saw it all my stuff on the boat like all my my suitcase on like everyone's suitcase because there's so many people like so many we like food you know suitcase is like pillows like like we had so much stuff on the boat that were they had to go clean in the in the house boat off and then do all those things so they they couldn't just like leave it you know leave it out where they were so they're

like we we have to go take care of this and then we can after that the making will come see you

“and I just remember being like okay and then I just remember getting into the the lifelight and”

looking out like on the mountains and remember like thinking still I'm fine I'm fine and I don't need all this I'm like I'm I'm I don't feel like I'm gonna pass out anymore and I'll feel like it like feel like anything still can't talk still can't move my right leg or right arm but I was thinking in my head yeah I'm fine and I don't know why I thought like I'm fine but I just was crazy back then I don't know I don't know but still was like thinking I just they're all that like they're working

on me and like I don't that I don't need all this yeah and then I remember like actually like focusing like on my right leg and arm like I was like oh I can't actually move my right arm that's just one like the first time I was noticing like oh I can't actually like move it I this is so weird

like I'm not able to move it move these both of both extremities that I have and I've always been

able to use I'm like this is this is a not right and I'm like this like what's happening and then a couple of months go by and then I just remember moving my right foot and like just a

“tad bit and I just remember that's when everything like clicked in my head I was like oh like I'm”

not fine like I'm in like I'm in like I'm in a lifeline right now I'm getting worked on but these nurses these doctors these paramedics like like I'm not right like what I what just happened and that's when I like started like to freak out yeah panic and I just remember like crying and I started to cry and like freak out and like like what what's like happening to me and that at that moment like after I realized that I could like everything clicked that's when I was able

to start talking but not it wasn't coherent at all okay and so I was trying to like talk but it wasn't like people weren't understanding what it was saying and they were just less of a horse but they were trying so hard to like a decipher what I was trying to say but I I'm like doing that moment I was like I was you know trying to talk but I couldn't and I had a group and it it just wasn't not coming like coming out and they're like oh like we'll get you to

work it and yet help and they were just trying to call me down and I just was like I was just not having it because I was like I had this very moment I was like why was I able to well it wasn't able to talk until now like why and then why is not with the understanding me why like what I I was just very like it's frustrating yeah very frustrating because I was trying to like talk and you know say stuff and they weren't understanding what I was trying to say and I was

I was it's very frustrating whenever that happens because if like yeah we're speaking another language and they're just like you're just like like what what what am I I can't like you can't

“like communicate with anybody so oh yeah freaking out yeah I just remember getting to the hospital”

and I just remember then like rolling me into saying oh I just want to say like the 18 year old

ER and I remember this one nurse was you know caring for me so much and I you know I just

I just felt like she I had a maternal wave go over because I felt like no this isn't on a any kind of nurse she was actually scared for me and like you know wanted to be there for me because I again I got there all alone yeah and so you didn't know what was happening no and she didn't know who I was but she her maternal instincts when I kicked in and she was just being my mother when my mother wasn't there and um they were still assessing me and then

“I remember calling my getting my phone like getting my like my dad on the phone on FaceTime”

and I don't remember who called him yeah I don't know who like did all that but I was just

I remember seeing her and like I started like again sorry to freak out and I was like like I don't don't know what's happening I don't know like what's going on and then he just was like oh like something something really wrong happened like something has happened that is not good that's so yeah I just remember talking to him for a little bit like trying to you know talk to him at least even though like my words weren't coherent and you know I knew what I wanted to say but I couldn't

get the words out and I that was that that and itself was very very frustrating because when you knew when you know what you want to say but you can't physically get the words out and like say like say sentences like your body's going against it and yeah and it's like like I knew how to do this like an hour ago and then I can't do this like so we're not being able to do this it's scary yeah

“like it's nothing that I've ever like experienced yeah and I just remember being so frustrated at”

that that we couldn't get anywhere it's out and well I couldn't I could get words out but I couldn't get like it wasn't going here and you couldn't understand what I was trying to say and so I couldn't speak sentences because it was all jumbled in my head and I was like I don't know how to like speak sentences or like I would only say one word if I wanted to say something and so like I had or like even to write I had to write with my left hand because I'm a I'm a writing but like this hand was

not like this arm wasn't working so I had to like write with my left to write words but I was like actually like trying to say so I remember being the E.R. for like 30 minutes that at that time and on my aunt who lived in Vegas came and I would she was there and I just remember being like oh my gosh like I have I have somebody now like I have somebody there that you know I know

and I just remember her being there and they're just saying oh we're gonna take your first

TT we're gonna take your fur and MRI we got to figure out like what's going on we had the confirmed like what's what's going on and so they got me the two CT that we did the CT and then got me to the MRI and I just remember being in the MRI machine and it's super loud if you ever gotten one it's like very loud and like at that time I was very scared of like you know the situation and that just made it like an at the all-time high because you're in this like

two yeah two of the like goes around like it's very very loud and it's not a quick like procedure like it's it takes a bit and so I just remember like crying and then having them like you know

“tell me oh like when you need to calm down but I was like trying to like calm down but then”

like I wasn't you know it was just a lot and so did like do things like over and over again because I still was like you know freaking out and so they had it like do things like over and over again and then and then once they were done I remember like going out of the MRI and then um that's

like I don't know what's happening and then my mom just saw that you're up and she's like oh my gosh

“I don't oh my gosh like what like what what's happening and she just saw like I'll”

like in and talk like I can talk like coherently like she was like what like she was just I were just talking on the phone yeah earlier today like and like what happened yeah what happened and they get me to an ICU room and I just remember doctors like nurses like so many of them filling my room yeah and yeah what the heck yeah

and uh uh they were like is is she on birth control is she on birth control and then she's like

no she's on birth control and apparently that can cause uh what uh birth control can cause clots that can you know travel up to the brain and you can have a stroke from you know so scary

“from birth control and so but then uh so that's why they were asking is she on birth control and my”

mom's like no she's not and so she's they were just thinking oh like then what what happened like why did she had the stroke but yeah uh back to all this all the the doctors the nurses the so many people like just filling my room all I once and they they just sat you know how to try to sit my mom down and they're like hey like can we like talk outside and so they took my mom outside and that's when they said we you know we looked at the MRI we looked at the

CT and it looks like she had a stroke and it the claw we actually had an eschemic stroke which means that what it was a blood clot that cut off the brain's blood supply and um get or um hammer hemorrhagic but you can have um you can also have hemorrhagic stroke that means the the brain is bleeding and but I was just the like a clot went up to my brain so do they know what calls the clot yeah okay no well at the time no okay because they just knew it was from a

clot yeah okay there's no there was a clot was in my brain and that's you know ultimately

haven't what happened and my mom just was just so like in shock like she just told me like she just felt her and me it's like like she couldn't believe what she was hearing what they were telling her and they were asking like how did she have the stroke and were they're just were like oh you don't know not to me because we why we asked that she was on birth control is because but birth control can cause clots and that can travel up to the brain right and she's not in

birth control so we're just we're like why did she have one so we're they're like we'll do everything we can until like to figure out like what like why she had the stroke and I if you get to the hospital

“in time like I think six hours after like like before six hours is like the max”

you can get this medication like like it's called TPA or TCA or something like that you can take and it can reverse all the the defects that that stroke caused and but my timeline since I had to be you know you know driven by boat looked at and assessed yeah like assessed at like the I like power and again also assessed and looked at like power and then being flown and then looking look being looked at and then assessing the ER and then then going to do all these

tests and then then then that time I was past the six hour mark so I wasn't able to get that medication that could reverse all these defects I was I was it was it was too late and they did

started the stroke so like we can't give the medication to her and my my mom was still like

in shock and you know did you didn't know how I could handle it my and my my my dad and my my stepdad were driving down separately from because my mom left when she found out like what was happening and she left before like on my she said that if it's nothing I don't want you to come with it if it's nothing but if it's something that I'll give you a call and I'll get you know

“her dad a call as well some she called my my stepdad and my my dad and saying like you need to get”

down here and they my stepdad and my dad were like all on the best of terms because you know it's like

when they did they can't get the horse and yeah they just like it's weird and like it's just you know they they didn't my my dad and like my stepdad because you know it's just how it goes and I just I they just I just remember them telling me that like they just got into the car started driving and then like they started to talk and I actually like cry and you know having to heart to heart because you know about like this whole situation was like so much for both of them because I've had

my my stepdad in my life since I was 11 so at that time eight years and I've had my dad in my

life forever and so like both of them like I just loved dearly like so much and so like it was just hard for them to like hear what was like actually going on and they were able to like drive together and have no issues whatsoever and so I would bat and then and itself I feel like wasn't your goal you know having them just like being like so softened they're like they're hard enough

“to like come together and be like I like we will get through this together and I just remember”

that night like after my stroke happened and like I was there and my my dad and my stepdad got there and I just all I wanted you know was water I wanted water so bad and I was trying to say like water like because I couldn't say like I want water and I know how to speak sense so I had to say water I had to try to say water like there's like videos of me because a nurse told my mom to document everything from now and everything from now and tell you know

a couple years go by because so I could look back and see my progress and see how far I've come because obviously I'm going to have to like go through rehab and I'm going to have to go through like so when you have a stroke it completely is resetting like everything yeah I had to relearn how to talk eat swallow a walk I couldn't like I really couldn't I couldn't even walk I had a relearn to take you to relearn those things like to the point where I was able to be like on my own like

don't you know what I like two years and it took me like having to do rehab for like those two years like nonstop because I did rehab in the hospital like inpatient rehab for like three like three times so occupational speech and physical therapy all three each one one hour a day and so that would be all three hours each day and so they would just come to my room and they're like all right that's so time to do your rehab and so I had like I do that every day

no breaks and yeah they're just saying like we we ought to get her like after she's that after she's

“like able to get out the ICU you need to transfer her to like a rehab center like a narrow rehab center”

so she could do inpatient rehab and my mom like it was like okay I'll try to like do some research

and so she was just doing that doing her research but yeah I was that first night I just remember

like wanting water so bad wanting water so bad and I was finally able to get the word out like water and then they were able to get me some water but then I like started to like cough it up

“like on swallow it couldn't swallow and that's why I'm they like realized my”

I could I my swallowing ability was also taken and so I had to get a feeding toe because I needed to get like you know new strands like water in me but I couldn't swallow so they had to put a feeding chip in and I was the feeding chip was in for like a week we can have and because until like I I had to do rehab to you know learn how to for those muscles to you know start to work and had to do like all these things like blowing into like a like this thing like I don't

I even know what it was called but like this rehab thing and I and blow into it and then I had to like swallow like swallow like my spit like trying to learn how to like actually like using those muscles and you know I was just trying to drink the water and I couldn't and I was like

“myself set but then I remember thinking I just I won't I want to walk like that first I was like”

I just want to walk around and I like proved to have anybody like everybody like I could walk I can like I'm probably free yourself to yeah at that point it's like I just want to get out of here yes I just want to like you know walk and then so that they were like oh like oh like okay we can chat like get you to walk and so I my mom just said to me like she just remembers me ripping the cords out like out from the wall that was connecting me to all these

stuff like my IV is like my my heart monitor my like all I ripped everything out and so then they got me a walker and I just started to walk and you know I was you know emotional at the time because again I wasn't the same I I couldn't walk the same I it was very hard for me to walk and I was using a walker too and I was I had to like two

“scene aids with me by my side you know helping me to walk and I just remember being like I'm like”

what what like I I don't understand like why like why what what what what what's happening like why can I walk normally they're like what like everything's not right like everything is just

been as changed everything yeah in a second and it just looked like became so like it

like became too much for me and so like that's when I started crying and like again I just just an a lot for me and yeah I just started to walk and I have a video of me trying to walk and all that and I it's you know me like crying because I can't walk normally and it was yeah it's just it was too much for me too much for me to handle I was 18 and I I thought that I I had my whole life ahead of me and now I'm I'm child like again we're

had to learn really not a walk talk eat like everything and I didn't know how to handle that other time because I'm like again I was you know I was 18 I was I'm I'm just a kid I was barely 18 like two months of me being 18 and I was like I'm I even I'm considered an adult I'm not an adult there's no way that like you there's no I still I'm 24 now I'm like I'm not I'm not a adult I'm still

I'm I'm 24 year old teenager I'm like I like I'm still there's always so much to learn

exactly so I'm like I'll probably be married and half kids were and I'll probably be like I'm not I'm not a adult I'm like I don't even know when I'll get to that point where I'm like yeah I'm an adult but and yeah that that time I definitely did did not feel that I was and I know I long and they you know got me back to my room and I was able to let rest but then they were just

of a stroke where a blood clot goes through the brain and cuts off the blood supply it's usually

“an older person like an elderly person that has a stroke you you only hear people who are like”

older have these types of strokes if the because usually that doesn't happen very often but people who are my age or younger that have strokes it's usually from the brain bleeding and but I had the clot so they're like why why why like she's not on brick and she's like why she like had this you know why they're trying to figure it out and you know a

couple days go by and I started my brain started to swell and it almost got to a point where my

brain was starting to swell so much that they were I they almost took out a piece of my skull to let my brain continue to swell and but to have like room for it to you know continue to

“swell because that you know at that point like I like with one of my brain started to swell”

I lost all like ability to move like I was able to move like like a little bit of my right a little like bright like a little bit of my like right but one of my brain started to swell

that's when I lost everything it couldn't move it I couldn't move it at all like my right

side was paralyzed and I'm sure that was even scarier too because then you're like I'm here I'm just be getting better yeah and it feels like you're like digressing or like it's worse even worse and and so I'm like what like I'm losing like everything and then they're just like doctors were there trying to assess me and then a nurse that was dumb and the ER I got my mom's number

“and was like you know because she had that maternal instinct like if you like you need anything”

you can text me like you can you can you can call me with anything that you need and and also like I had this step mom and that was a nurse and so my mom like was you know friends with her as well and so she like gone the phone with her and she said that if she starts losing all ability from her brain starting to swell there's a medication that they can give her to you know not like to have it you know calm down and like like lose like all of her ability and then so

they weren't giving this medication but I've like lost everything and but we were just so confused and my mom was talking to the doctor and it was like why are you giving her this this medication like why she's like well she's not really like losing any ability really and she's like yeah she is she was able to move her right arm and like and now she is like she's lost everything so you give the her medication now so and they gave me that medication and they

calmed everything down and my brain started doing you know to un-soil or like you know yeah go down yeah go down and so they didn't have to take out a piece of my school to you know let it like that's crazy yeah they had it that you guys had to tell them yeah exactly and so they're like oh like she hasn't lost any ability so it's fine but my mom was like yeah right she did so like I was like you know thankfully that I got that medication so they were trying to figure it out

since you know birth control was out of the picture they're like we just need to like do some more tests and like trying to figure out like why she had this type of stroke and then like the next day that's when I started to run a fever and really a really high fever and they're like the doctors were thinking she has an infection somewhere she has an infection somewhere but we don't know where it's coming from we we have to figure this out like they did something like test or whatever

I'm like yeah like she's septic she's septic and that means yeah like I have an infection in my blood

we need to have like figure out like where this infection like where it's happening and so we can

“figure this out like and you know she doesn't this doesn't end up fatal and so they were like”

discussing and they're like like let's just like look like closer at like her heart like let's just look closely at that and like see maybe if that's like where the infection is happening or coming from and so they did like this scope and where they put me to sleep and then they put this camera down my throat and so they could like fully like have a closer look at my heart and because they didn't all just sound but then like they said it was fine but then they're like we need like actually

like look at it like closer like not just an ultrasound we look at a closer and so after that procedure

“you know happen where they look closely at my heart with this whole camera down my throat”

that's when they found out that I had two holes in my heart that I had never known about

never know about and they were saying yes she has two holes in her heart one which is a PFO what's they call it it's called a PFO which essentially everyone has either closes or it doesn't when they take their first breath of life when they're born either closer it doesn't and you can have like a full life with no complications if it doesn't close it was just the problem was that the other big hole in my heart was an ESD that was the problem that and they were like

right next to each other too and that's when they were like yeah this is probably where I

she had the show because blood clot was cradling through her body and then went through the both those holes and then went straight up so we were brain okay and so like this is probably probably the cause of the stroke and if we wouldn't have found these holes she would have not been in heart failure and dropped dead by the time she was like 35 30 so like it's crazy yeah she like like I know this is like a weird thing to say but like this like they were just saying

that yeah the best a blessing in the size yeah and so we were like oh I was like like I were not awesome that she has these holes but like thankfully we found like the reason why

“she had this show and thankfully we were able to you know fix the problem so did you have to”

get surgery on your heart? I did so like after a month after I got out of the hospital I got I had a half heart surgery and they closed both holes or just one both they closed it because they were able to put the the device because there's a device in my heart now but they were able to close both of them and not like like they were able to close both of them at the same time okay closing how was that surgery it was like I remember like then putting me to sleep

but like I remember not fully being asleep I like it was weird I was like in and out in and out but I didn't feel anything but like I so was like I'm awake and it's like a weird feeling when like you like you had to recover from this stroke and heart surgery yeah same time yeah heart stroke heart surgery and like being septic and so they had helped me on like major major antibiotics so that like I had that we're giving to me in this in this pick line

that a pick line is like essentially like a like a tube that goes straight to your heart and a ministers the antibiotics and but it's like this tube that goes to my arm goes all the way to like my my heart and it's like essentially like a not like a permanent IV but like because you can take it out but like you don't have to like keep you know yeah you know

have that pick line as well because that is it's an easy procedure but like it it's still a

procedure and so like I had that and like I had a recovering from being septic and having

“all these antibiotics I put into my body and and that's when like I remember being narrow we have”

and from all these antibiotics I put in my body it was killing like the like the bad bacteria of also the good bacteria in my body it was killing everything and so what happens is it's like the longer you stay at the hospital the more likely that you're going to get sick so I got sick again in the hospital because again the antibiotics is just killing

everything and so like the ultimately the bad in the hospital took over and that's where I got

seed-of seed-of is like an intestinal intestine I'm saying that right intestinal yeah intestinal disease and it just like like causes you to like feel pain in your your intestines and like

“go to the bathroom constantly like and like I remember like going to the bathroom every two minutes”

because I every two minutes I couldn't sleep because I had I had to go to the bathroom like every two minutes like every time that I would come back into my bed like walking with my IV like my IV pool getting all that settled into my bed I'll be in there for like two minutes and I'll be

like I have to get back up again and my mom had to like go like like she had to help me because I

can't walk by myself and so she didn't get it any sleep either so I also got that too and that was so painful in itself where I'm like there's just so like so much that has happened where I'm like yeah I just want to like die I'm like I please I'm like this like this it's too much for me to handle I'm like I just would rather you just you know taking me out and you know we can call it a day because I'm like I don't know if I could like

live with this and they couldn't figure out what's going on with me either with the c-diff they before they were like like I was sick and then I like what's happening with her and later just like I don't know what's happening like they're trying to figure it out really doing all these tests. Let's see what what's happening and then my my mom was telling like the nurses like my my step mom who was a nurse and then the the nurses that we grew close to

at St. George Regional because at that time I was transferred over to I am C which is a Murray Utah which is like a like 45 minutes away from my house but she was like I don't like she's so sick we don't know what's going on though and then like explaining all of her like my symptoms and they're just like she has C-diff that sounds like C-diff like have them check for C-diff and she's like oh okay like then I'll tell like the doctor and like or the nurse is like

this is what they need a test for and so she went to the doctor and said all you need a test or for C-diff and that's probably what she has and they're like yeah I don't think she has that though like it doesn't it just doesn't make sense and I I really don't think it she has this and then they kept doing like all these other tests and kind of figure still kind of figure it out

“and of course that's what it was like yeah and like still gonna figure it out and then I like at that”

point like I could not eat I could not like I could not drink or anything I was like I want to like I I want to die like it's it's too painful and then my mom was like so fed up it was like 4 am of me just like staying awake because I I couldn't you know sleep I couldn't you know get like nights good nights rest because I was up and going the bathroom constantly and so she's just like she left the room and then like went up to a nurse station and she's

she was demanding she was demanding you get the doctor here now and test for if you see

or for it now yeah yeah like and so they they tested me and what did I come up I had see that and I was able to get the the medication for that and that's when I started to feel better option we started to like feel like the the medications start working and then you know kicking in and I my mom was my saving her I see it's like she was my son of voice in the hospital because obviously I didn't have one yeah I didn't have one she like was with me

every step of the way like that woman never left my side she went everyone told her like

“we can stay with Courtney and you need to go shower she would wish you would five we'd like no”

I don't need to I don't need to like deal this I can sleep here I can just like it's fine I don't need she we came super close and during that time because we were with each other like constantly and I I'm very I'm like so blessed for that time that I I got with there during that time because yeah we we became so close and I I like I know that was like a not so great thing that happened

I'm but a good like a great thing happened like came out of it you know getting that relationship

with my mom and I just remember just like being after the stroke being so like all like the bad and of my life being stripped away from me because in the hospital my mom said that like I was like Chad like again being like like staying hide everybody that we like like wheeled past like as I would be in a wheelchair because whenever I would go anywhere would be in a wheelchair they'd I would say hide everybody and like I would I was so happy in the hospital like even

know like these these things were happening to me I was so happy and you know and

she said that she felt like she was she was talking with Jesus you know like like like I was like I was so close to him at that time that I might like everything was just shining through and this horrible heat thing happened to me yeah for sure but I I wasn't focused on that

“and I was able to look at the positives I was able to you know like that's what I focused on”

and I was like so blessed to be able to like be that way you know like doing that like because some people like you know when things get harder something they just shut down they just like they're just saying like it's too much like I can't like they but I was able to you know shine through the bad and yeah my mom talks about that with me all the time and she just was like I just you were just so happy and do this do that hard time and I'm like I look

looked up to you I still look up to you because you went through this hard thing and so many hard things and you weren't mad you were I was sad but you know with all the things I happened to me but I wasn't angry yet you know God before having this happened to me you know and I was also grateful that I was able to bring peace to like my family and you know because they're they're all just you know worried about me and all these things

but I was able to bring some peace knowing that like I wasn't you know struggling mentally I was able to feel like feel the good and I'm mostly bad time you know I don't know I like explain that though I think to you know sometimes we realize the reality of life when the worst things happen and it's sad sometimes that it takes something traumatic and scary to happen but I feel like sometimes it's in those times that we really start to notice the small things that

“is around us what's important what matters what doesn't and I think that that really can bring”

people together you know and I think that like you said before it's it was a horrible thing

health of your whole life and then all of a sudden you know what the holes in your heart could have had kids so you know like it's been married like I and then they just lost that amount you know like it would have been like worst yeah worse yeah so I I know and then now are you do you feel like you have fully recovered or are you still in any type of rehab or anything or now um at this point the they my insurance stopped after two years

paying for on my rehab so I just if I wanted to like some rehab I'll just like go the gym okay so like you know here and there like try to work on some things you know walking lifting weights stuff like that um but yeah after two years were like yeah she doesn't need it anymore like my insurance was like yeah she's fine do you feel like you fully recovered from it or not yet I I feel like I'm 90% better I feel like there's like 10% where I can be like a 100%

but yeah would say I'm mostly better so like like right and it's amazing you know like yeah because

you would never know from the end which is I always think that's so crazy and interesting and

“something that people need to remember that just like you're a case where you would never know yeah”

that there or what has happened exactly I you never know and you don't know like what other people are going there were happen through you yeah and my stroke when more I was at the beginning like I had them like a major stroke where to be where I am right now is a blessing in it so yeah right and like I wanted to take for the drooping to go away oh my gosh so it took like six months to really yeah were they did they know if it was going to go where or not they were like yeah like she

has to do like once you just speech like my speech we have it would be like you working these muscles on like the right side of my face you know I tried to like get them to you know start working and doing those muscles like working those muscles like helped me to feel them yeah build it more I still like I still feel sometimes I do still have like a droop like because like it's my face and I'm like yeah there's there's something like not right about like you

know I mean talk on our yeah okay yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah and then the right side of your body like your your right arm and like do you feel like that's pretty much all better do you feel like there's still like some weakness on that side I'd feel like there's some weakness still on that side but

“the the only thing that really bugs me about the side is my nerve pain I developed okay very”

severe nerve pain from the stroke and the nerve pain is constant okay and never goes away

and even taking medication for it it doesn't take it away so I feel this pain all the time sorry now you so and there's nothing that they can do about that because the medicine doesn't are no they're just like the it's like again with the brain like they don't know okay then yeah they're like you could either grow away or it doesn't we don't know that's crazy and it's been six years yeah of me having this and I'm like well I don't know like maybe it's

gonna go away or not yeah and so I'm like praying to have an almighty that it will go away but you know if I do think it like I feel like it is at least for me it would be so reassuring to know the calls yeah because I feel like you know if you just have something like that happen you don't know why I feel like you're living in this fear every day I would like could it happen again yeah but I feel like the fact that they were able to find that calls of it yeah and like

“fix the whole thing like yeah like I feel like it kills super difficult and yeah I think you're”

something out that could have affected your future and then it you know it's it's scary but and I think it's interesting when you're talking about how you kept thinking you were fine I feel like that was your body probably trying to protect itself because if not you go into shock and panic yes because like right when you're like right when I like right when I moved

to my right right leg for the first time that's when everything clicked and on that that's when I started to like yeah

it's going to panic like when you lose control of your function of your body and you know we take it for granted like so many small things you know and I mean people realize that even when they get sick

you lose function you can't do simple things anymore are they you know seemed like just part of your

“everyday routine and it puts things into perspective yeah mama we feel the great to live on”

hmm so sad and so creamy hey we can then pop a creamy sign Nutella or if I'm mama and for pop a believed Nutella is Nutella. You know you're a star too this schoolflashback just to get over the night and then you're hoping that it's stimmt. Oh no garney like so staya is so my safe space. Hmm do you mind that's all it's not you. Yeah, genau like so staya is so d-stoyer app that I just understand. Egalobstudium job or um to cast. Cras. Furtig garney like stoyer and then stoyer and

lead it safe. Medviso staya for sure because like I was 18 and like ready to start my life

and like ready to be an adult and because I was barely in though and but to be transformed back into a kid again we're learning how to do things it's just it's interesting. It like physically

“sets you back but I think mentally it pushes you forward as you're going through something that”

people your age don't typically go through. I had a growth fast. Yeah and grow up super quick because like it's mentally challenging to say the least. It's like you were right. I mean so many people could probably relate to just wanting to give up and be like just kill me. Yeah because this is how

yeah that's horrible. And like one I was just keep like when I got like getting sick and sick

and like in the hospitals like all right. Right what's next? Yeah like I am like you just if you just gonna if you're gonna take me just take me. Right like just and let me think was so different like one thing after another after like it's the it's terrible. Yeah and I was just like at that point I was just like I I don't yeah I'm done I can't handle another thing that's gonna happen to me. I'm like did you end up going to college after? I am in college. I know I'm not. Yeah I'm saying

I'm graduating. Um I hate graduating in two years. Okay two years so I just rarely started because you know doing rehab for two years and like you know yeah it takes time and I know yeah yeah yeah and like you want to do. I am going to school for nursing. Okay I mean the reason why I am going a school for nursing is because when I was in the hospital for my stroke. The and the neuro I see you. I had this one nurse you know there's like nurses out there that are like you know

you know not soft to you. Yeah yeah and they're like they're just not softies they're just like you know they're just there to like work you know do their job and you know not like yeah like after the the work they've done like go home you know I'm like she's she was very like not like hard hard it but like you know like very cold not cold but like it's like when like just like to the point yeah yeah to the point and when I she was she like I want to was her patient one time I

“I like I just I just softened her I remember just softening her and to the point where she would stay”

after her work days like 12 hour days so you know to come and talk to me and my family you know see how I was doing like see how like I was progressing like any like she would come and talk to us for hours and hours or like I wish I wish she was helping me shower one time and I got dressed back dressed and she was like helping dress and then I remember her brushing my hair and you know after the shower and she was pulling the living conditioner to my hair brushing my hair and I remember

like looking up here and be like I love you oh I love you and she's just like I love you too like I like I love you I just remember her softening her like her heart and she brought her makeup from home you know and her makeup brushes her makeup habits and came and did my makeup one time because you know I wasn't able to like you know get dressed up there I was just I was in a and again like I have videos of her you know just doing my makeup and me saying trying to say pallets and

like pallet like you know you can really talk on like like I kind of talked to her I we still like

connected and like an emotional way like a mental way and I she showed me that what I want to do is be in this like because after high school I really again I didn't know what I wanted to do and she showed me like this is like my path this is what I want to do because in high school I didn't take any like anatomy classes I didn't like there I had no idea that I wanted to go this route until then and then so yeah I'm so thankful for I can still in contact with

there to this day because I'm like you know checking in because you know checking you with her like

I just like I visit her like every time that I go up to Saint George like I would go up as

at her and I I just I'm like and the when I was staying in that narrow rehab down in Marie that the nurse that in the ER that was you know was was maternal over me came in brought her son and you know came and visited me and she came down here and you know came and visited me and took the time out of her day to you know come see me and comes say hi that's so sweet and I was also grateful for for both of them and they both shall be what I wanted to do was was health care.

“Well I think too like in those times when you are struggling and you're in need of course it's great”

to have your family there to support but I think having medical professionals that also make you feel like you're important yeah I'm like you're at home that can be really comforting and the yeah very safe and it is important to have that yeah scary it is scary or something like that you're terrified you're frustrated you're confused or to have somebody that knows what they're doing kind of support you through that and and also be there to yeah soften the situation it is helpful

yeah it's very I made it off I don't know like what what have happened if they I didn't have that because it was it it changed they changed my life and I'm like I want to do the same for them because I know that they they changed my life like completely and yeah I want to do that for somebody else and use my story to you know tell everybody that you know you can get to you know where I am like you know like I had like I worked in a spinal cord rehab as a CNA after my stroke

because I got my CNA right after like you know when they let me show me what I wanted to do and I was like this is what I wanted to so I got my CNA certification and I started working as a CNA and I worked

“in the spinal cord rehab department and I remember just having like people there just you know doing”

therapy because you know they lost function in their legs or they're you know there aren't like everything like you like it's either you know one of the other and I remember having this one patient you know talking to me that they like we're skiing and they had an accent and broke their neck and now they're here and he doesn't like he didn't know how to like you know take it and like he like doesn't because everything was he was fine one second and the next he wasn't

and I I was able to be like I use my story to my advantage but I was able to say I know this I'm not I I didn't have like the same thing happened to you but I once was you know normal happy and nothing wrong with me and then one second everything was taken for me and I was able to be like I had a stroke and I had to learn how to do everything like I wasn't rehab for I was in the hospital

“for over a month learning really learning how to do everything and I think that is so important”

and incredible when people can relate to somebody and be like I truly do get it yeah I had

every learn too and I think that that makes it even more special that you are you know wanting to help people and helping people that are going through similar things like yeah because you you genuinely get it you're not you know and it's okay some people do treat their job just like in and out you

in the sense when you can just like you give that that related ability that's what people need

“most and you're meant for human connection yes people need that connection and they need that”

helps them get through things no I like I agree with you a hundred percent then when I first left

the hospital there the rehab center I went over to the like the hospital to say hi to everybody like all my therapist my nurses and you know doctors there just like say hi and there's this one therapist that was like we have a patient here who's from France she's was over here you know going to school and and she had a stroke and she's in in this room and I I feel like she would benefit from you talking to her about your story and how you know how you're progressing yeah

so I was able to you know go chat with her I even though like we didn't speak the same language

“because obviously she's in France but I was able to connect with her emotionally and she's like”

you and the yeah yeah and you know tell her like tell her it's gonna it's gonna be okay it's a long

road but it's gonna be okay yeah like I like if you need anything I'm here and like after she got the hospital she like I like my mom would talk to her mom because her mom like flew down from France you know be with her in the hospital and then when they went home they she would send me stuff I would send her sister we would email back and forth and as we have pictures of her like doing stuff like she loves like horseback writing you know and I I love that I loved you know

it makes a difference and makes a difference for sure and I was I was glad to you know bring some piece to her and her mom you know because again she like it has just had a stroke and she was young she was in college and in a different country her mom wasn't there her mom was back in France and I was able to bring her some some comfort and I would I'm very very blessed to be able to be that person for for her as well because even though you wouldn't think like out

she wasn't doing anything for me because I was the one talking to her she but she changed me as well of course and it also helps you not feel like your situation was like the thing you're alone even after what it doesn't mean that you don't think about it or still have it there that like you it's part of your story in journey as well yeah it's gonna help you just as much yeah no definitely and I'm I'm so thankful for all the the people that I have you know met

because of this and I am just like so like even like opportunities or like you know experiences that I've it happened in my life and I'm I'm also grateful for that as well and when my mom was told

“that you know you should probably like you know record her doing stuff or like talking you should”

like you know so she can see her progress as she she goes along so if she gets frustrated one day

you can be like remember how you were the first day or the second day or the third

you're not like that now you're so much better than where you were now and that would make her like make her feel so much better yeah she would yeah like record me doing stuff and then she decided one day that she wanted a post one on Twitter and she just wanted like you know like at least she just wanted prayers for me you know she just wanted to put something out there to the people because she had like five followers she was just she

it was not like a post like student post on there she was just there to like stalk her children and now she just posted sense like saying like this is my daughter she had the let's joke you like if anyone out there who's following me just like please pray for her and like like a couple of days go by and one of her like her friends who she saw a couple days that are like have you been on Twitter like have you have you looked at your Twitter and she's

just like now she's like you're post about Courtney went like it's going viral like it's so like

and like you should go see it and so she went to go see it and she had like so many people

“try to like reach out to her she had like a basketball player on the cavelears like wanting to like”

you know see how I was doing and then wanting to send me stuff and he sent me stuff and football player from the Denver Broncos wanting to send me stuff and like so many like all like I let's get she was getting messages from all over the world saying like I'm praying for you praying for your daughter and she was like I'll like the like this is insane insane like how many like how people how people are reaching out yeah like like come together and you know

praying for this girl that people they don't even know but they like like they're you know DMing her their stories and like saying like oh like I'm praying for your daughter and like uh this

“is what I went there and like she was just so grateful for all that she had it was seriously like”

all over people all over messaging her and I was also like very like grateful for all those people who reached out to me and my mom and you know I kind of thank them enough and then um that's one I started to you know get into to tick-tock and I was like oh like maybe I could like you know start posting my story on there and that's when I started to you know getting a following my story because you know it's not like a normal thing right and people love to connect and here

yes people have gone through yeah exactly and it you know never stop sharing it I always tell my

guests like if you're open to sharing your story never stop sharing no because it always helps so many people so many people like I've had so many people like reach out to me it's talking to me about their stories and it like it makes me feel close to them you know and I love like hearing you know their experiences and their stories and I that's probably one of my favorite things about having this you know people following is people reaching out to me and saying like saying like

their story and I love it I love it I love it I that's yeah my favorite thing about it and I had it turned it to this thing of like you know you know posting and like my story like my days of like you know as a stroke survivor you know and that you know like about my heart surgery like like all these things like I it's just some places where I can just like you know vent if I want it to and then but also help people and yeah exactly it's the best of the world it's perfect yeah it's

perfect and like obviously like there's hate but obviously it's fine it's everywhere it's the

part of it's the downside of social media yeah those people you know I always say this somebody

that can have first of all negativity and anger that's at own demon but yeah somebody that can

“hate on somebody that I mean hating on someone in general is so stupid you have to be a miserable”

person they really yeah doing that for somebody that is just trying to share their story or you know show their life or whatever it might be you know if you don't like it don't watch it yeah but if something is triggering something in you to have a negative mean reaction that's only a reflection of you yeah no like it's definitely like that I totally agree I had this one time because I had a real re-learned how to drive obviously because I had to get my driver's license again because I lost that

function until because you know I never really know how to do everything so I re-learned how I got my

license again when they said oh like you're like you're pretty much better so I think you can get like it have your license back and so I got it and then my neurologist gave me like a handicap parking because it like walking for me like places if I walk for too long like I get super tired and like it's just like a Disneyland if like we're walking around I get like tire like way more tired than anyone else yeah so dramatic that it's like even if you are better it's normal yeah like an expected

let's mean to say about you have a handicap yeah yeah I had a handicap and I parked in the handicap

and spa and then I was like I think it was going to like you know the store like target or something that I like and I remember somebody saying are you sure you're able to park there and you look fine to me and I was just like but once again that's the prime example of somebody looking at you

“from the outside and judging that's why we should never judge other people who cares yeah I want to”

mean like I don't want to explain something to you because that's not even know you is parking there and they are fine that's their karma yeah not yours don't worry about it yes

what I mean like people are just outrageous with those kind of things but never let that

deter you no they would say what you have them but always keep sharing and letting people know you know the ends and out obviously within your comfort level but that just helps so many people it's so important I think that it's amazing that we have platforms that

“people can share their stories and and connect with people through an online platform where”

it doesn't have to be face-to-face yeah it makes the biggest difference it makes people feel like

they aren't struggling by themselves you know there's nothing like relating to somebody who's

gone through something especially if it's somebody that's younger and like it because especially if something like that happens you could feel like well this only happens to older people yeah you would think but being able to find other survivors that that's happened to it it really it makes you feel better yeah in your situation because like before the stroke I had I heard nobody

“nobody my age have having a stroke ever and then after then I started to hear like so many”

other people like yeah like open like open up like a major door to me I mean feeling I'm not the only one out there I'm I guess at the beginning I was like I know like this happens to like nobody yeah like this should like what this happens to nobody and then like after time goes on like after like time went on I'm like oh there's so many other people out there that I didn't know about that have had the same thing happen to them and then made me feel maybe feel peace yeah and

like I'm not like not saying like I'm so grateful that you had that happen to you and like we're able to share that but like I'm just grateful for you to like be to be able to share that with me yes and I I'm very glad to like you know make you feel comfortable enough to you know open up to me too because it's just not something that you want to like share louder than the world most times but like for me I'm like I I I do because I'm like I I yeah it's my story and I I

I want people to know that I didn't just get here just because I got here from work hard and determined like hard work and determination and I I just know that not having like the competitive nature that I did have like you know playing sports and all that and it didn't I wouldn't feel like I didn't wouldn't have that drive that I did yeah half on the expense and to you know fight yeah fight and to get better to where I was and I was grateful for

me to you know like also have that as well you're not to you know have that fight in me and wanted to get better yeah absolutely what you did I mean thank you