GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke, according to the American Heart Association. Sara Brown, a Corewell Health pharmacy supervisor, is one of them.
Brown suffered a stroke on January 4 of this year, caused by an occluded artery, leaving her with an inoperable blood clot that altered her speech, comprehension and mobility.
"It's hard," Brown said. "It is what it is."
Brown's first surgery on January 5 involved removing a bone flap, and her most recent surgery on April 29 was to replace that portion of her skull.
"When Sarah first got here, she required total assist of one to two people for all of her self care tasks," said Lanae Dekryger, an occupational therapist at Mary Free Bed.
Now, just days after her second surgery, Brown is making strides in relearning how to walk and talk.
"She had to reset, you know, she had to start from scratch again," said Erik, Brown's husband.
Brown's support system includes Erik and their two young children. Erik got a tattoo of his wife's heartbeat from when she was in the ICU, designed to blend with the scar from her surgery.
"Her head matches the tattoo, or my tattoo matches her scar, if you will," Erik explained.
As Brown works toward gaining more independence each day, she lives up to the message on her t-shirt: "Super Sara Strong."
"Just to see where she started and where she got to, you know, needing less than 25% help to be able to do a lot of the things that she needs to do, to be able to function and care for herself has been remarkable," Dekryger said.
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