Awaken Your Path: A Journey Through Spiritual Healing & Plant-Based Living
Stroke
Between 2021 and 2023, I experienced three ischemic strokes - each one teaching me something new about resilience, uncertainty, and the complexity of healing.
The first occurred in October 2021, around the time I was initially diagnosed with bladder cancer after a summer of unexpected weight loss. Thankfully, I recovered relatively quickly and didn’t notice any obvious neurological changes. With that encouragement, I resumed weekly chemotherapy and continued working remotely in talent sourcing.
I was grateful to be doing work I enjoyed, and in June 2022, I was presented with an opportunity that felt especially meaningful - a global talent sourcing trainer role with NVIDIA. It aligned closely with what I had long hoped to do, and I embraced it with a sense of purpose.
The second stroke came in November 2022. It caught both me and my doctors by surprise, yet again, I was fortunate not to notice significant cognitive decline. I was able to return to work within a week. Around that time, my care team adjusted my medication from oral Apixaban (Eliquis) to injectable Lovenox, believing it would offer better protection.
About five months later, in April 2023, I experienced a third stroke - this one affecting the opposite side of my brain. This event was far more impactful and, in many ways, humbling. Skills I had long taken for granted - like working with numbers or navigating time zones - suddenly became difficult. My speech was also affected, as I struggled at times to clearly express thoughts that still felt intact internally.
Looking back, I’m especially grateful that I had created structured training materials - slides, links, and short recorded videos - which helped me continue delivering sessions between late 2023 and early 2024. In many ways, those tools quietly supported me when my usual abilities felt less reliable.
By May 2024, I began medical leave and ultimately did not return to work. In hindsight, I’ve come to appreciate how closely I had tied my sense of purpose to my career, and how disorienting it can feel to redefine that purpose in a new season of life.
Shortly after starting leave in July 2024, I experienced an unexpected complication: a hematoma in my abdomen that affected the nerves in my legs, particularly on the right side, leaving me without sensation. Then, in November 2024, a second hematoma impacted my left leg. With careful observation, my wife helped identify that these complications were likely related to an excess of blood thinner. Adjusting to a lower dose has since helped stabilize things, and I’m deeply grateful for her attentiveness and advocacy.
Recovery has been gradual and, at times, unpredictable. It took more than eight months to regain sensation in my right toes, and I continue working to rebuild strength in my right leg to reduce reliance on a walker. Sensation in my left foot is still returning, though I’m encouraged to have regained good movement in the leg itself. Experiences like this have taught me patience in ways I never expected.
Even now, more than three years after my last stroke, I still face challenges - basic math can be difficult, programming feels unfamiliar, and I occasionally need to slow down to articulate words clearly. At the same time, I’ve become curious about the brain’s ability to adapt. Through mental exercises and daily practice, I’m working to engage new pathways and make the most of the abilities I still have.
This journey has reminded me, again and again, that healing is rarely linear. But it has also shown me how much is still possible - with support, persistence, and a willingness to keep learning along the way.
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