All Survivor Stories

My story takes place back in May of 2000 when I was 10-years-old. Around 5pm on a Friday afternoon I started having a bad headache. I told my parents about it and they handed me some Tylenol, assuming it was just my allergies. That didn’t solve the problem.

I later found out that I was experiencing a brain AVM (arteriovenous malformation) - a tangle of blood vessels that connects arteries to veins. It had started to rupture on the left side of my brain causing the pain to get worse. I told my parents I was dying.  

In 2013, I suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm, like Emilia. It happened out of the blue, just 3 months after my baby was born. I had been experiencing what I would say was a very mild, dull headache for a few days. A bit like a hangover and I couldn’t shift it. 

7 years ago, on a Saturday after a night out, I felt unwell. I thought maybe it was a hangover. I went to bed early and woke the next morning with a terrible headache...

September 14, 2018, according to my MapMyRun, I was around 10 miles in a long run in Cambridge, MA USA when I was struck at a crosswalk by a car going 37 miles per hour.

In 2020, at only 13 years old, Rirhandzu was involved in a car accident and was diagnosed with a Traumatic Brain Injury.

Mark and his wife were on a holiday of a lifetime, when the expression actually took on a whole new meaning for them.

Sarah had the first of two strokes on April 19, 2016, two days after her 30th birthday. She talks about the importance of raising awareness of stroke in young people and having access to more support to live a full life.

In this compelling survivor story, we meet Bethanne, a resilient individual whose life changed following a rapid decline in health and subsequent stroke.

Within 2 months, Ginger had 2 brain injury surgeries which would go on to change her life in ways she had never imagined. In her story, she addresses important concepts that many survivors have to navigate.