#235

Elaine woke up this morning to find something extra special in her inbox! Her granddaughter, Lexy, sent her a copy of a paper she had written. The topic was, "Someone who had inspired me." Elaine and Fred read the email with tears in their eyes. Here is what she wrote:

Inspiration is “something that arouses your desire to take action” (www.vocabulary.com).  This means a person is inspirational when they do something amazing that makes you want to work harder to achieve bigger things.  Inspirations are important because they drive you to achieve bigger and better things in life.  Without inspiration we would all just settle for being good, but not try for the excellence that inspirations make you want to achieve. My Grandma Elaine is an inspiration to me because she overcame the horrible affects of a stroke through hard work determination, and never giving up. 

Last January my Grandma Elaine was at the gym working out and had a stroke. Thankfully, her trainer at the gym noticed the signs of the stroke immediately and called 911 for help.  While in the ambulance she received a trial drug which the ER nurses were convinced saved her life.  She also got the ER quick enough to receive a clot-busting drug which less than 3% of all stroke victims are lucky enough to receive. While these miracles may have saved her life, she still had a long road to recovery ahead of her. 

The next day Grandma Elaine woke up being completely paralyzed on her left side from her head to her toes.  The doctors were not optimistic about her chance of a recovery, but Grandma Elaine would not accept this diagnosis and was determined to make a full recovery.  Less than a week after having the stroke she was able to squeeze the nurse’s hand and slightly move her left leg.  This was a huge achievement because it happened so quickly and showed everyone what a fighter she was.  She spent 4 weeks in the hospital filling her days with therapy, tests, and doctor visits, but all this hard work paid off because she learned to walk again with help.  They decided to move her to a rehab facility so that she could work more on physically healing the left side of her body.  She knew that if she wanted to recover 100% she was going to have to work harder than she ever has in her life.

Grandma Elaine eventually moved out of the hospital back into her home with the determination to make a full recovery.  In order for this to happen she had to work countless hours in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.  All of this therapy took up most of her day leaving her exhausted, but she took every extra therapy session available because she wanted to make a quick, full recovery.  During these sessions she had to relearn tasks that we think of as simple like picking up a fork, step up a curb, sit in a chair, say certain word, and brushing her hair.  By the end of February she was able to walk unassisted around the neighborhood with just the use of a cane.  The doctors, all of her family and friends were amazed by her quick progress and knew at this point that her fight to make a full recovery would be a success. 

Grandma Elaine has been working hard towards her goal of a full recovery for almost 9 months.  She is a true inspiration to everyone who meets her and hears her amazing story.  She is a living example of someone whose determination, will to succeed, positive attitude, and fight to never give up paid off because she through her hard work she relearned to do almost everything she was able to do before her stroke.  My Grandma Elaine is an inspiration to me because whenever I feel overwhelmed or like I can’t accomplish something I think about her and her motto, “Never give up” and know that if she could accomplish her goals so can I. 

This really started Elaine's day off to a great start! Thank you Lexy for sharing her story!

Soon after, Elaine received another email. This one from an unknown friend from Canada. She began following the blog after our dear friend, Ashley shared Elaine's story on the her blog. Elaine is so moved to be helping and inspiring people. It brightened her day and made her feel like maybe this happened so she could help other people. Thank you for reaching out, thank you for your prayers and thank you for caring.

It seemed to set the tone for a good day. The nurse that adjusts the stretcher/torture machine, come over for an evaluation. She was absolutely amazed by Elaine's progress, and how well Little Darlin' is doing. She credited it all to Elaine's diligent, consistent, work ethic. Elaine didn't need to tell her how often she is doing it, she could tell.  The nurse did remind Elaine, how rare it is to see someone with her dedication! She said Elaine is headed in the right direction, and soon will be able to ease of some of her pain medication, which was the best news of the day for Elaine!