May 30, 2021

This day is a blur. So is the whole month after. I didn’t get out of the hospital til July 16th. A month and a half of dying to get out of there. I don’t remember a thing. My brain surgery, I don't remember. My countless MRI’s, I don’t remember. I just wanted to get out of there. So I guess this is me telling the story of what happened to me. When I was 18 years old I got pulled off a stage. I went to the nurses, she did a few checks, and I was on my way. The next morning I woke up and I was paralyzed on my right side. I panicked and I went to the Administrator On Duty, who sent me to the nurses. The nurse took her time, while I waited. She took me to the local hospital. This is where I met my parents. And the doctors told me that maybe I had just “slept the wrong way”. Boy, was I glad to have listened to my mom who just wanted a CT scan. That was when this hospital freaked out and helicoptered me to another hospital. This hospital couldn't tell me anything either so I got sent to another hospital. This was the hospital that told me I had an Arteriovenous Malformation. Only 18 in 100,000 people have them; they are considered rare. And mine houses 3 aneurysms. They told me there was really nothing they could do. It was too risky to go into the Thalamus where it was. So, I lived life like I didn't have an AVM. Until this past year.

On May 30th of 2021 my aneurysms bursted. All three of them. This time last year, I was at Verde Valley School’s graduation when everything went black. I don't remember what happened to me.

I had a craniotomy (brain surgery) in June, and gamma knife in August, which is radiosurgery that we’re hoping will get rid of all of this. I have aphasia which is the “loss of ability to understand or express speech, caused by brain damage”. I was paralyzed on my right side but I’m working hard everyday to recover.

I was accepted to law school at the Sandra Day O'Connor Law School last fall. I wasn't able to attend due to my traumatic event.

Now, I do Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy like it’s my job.

But, I am grateful. So grateful.