Chi Lee
August 5th, 2004 is a day I'll always remember.
It was the height of summer and as I readied myself for an afternoon at the gym for yoga and dance class, so many interfering factors could've changed my destiny for that day.
I could've met a friend for lunch and never got to the class that caused me to have a stroke, or stayed home and watched all of the Matrix films on DVD.
But it was the fact that I was trying to shift a bit of excss weight to look good for the summer which ended with me at Funk Class, at the gym, during which I lost my breath as we performed a vigourous strreetdance routine to the camp Gloria Gaynor anthem, "I will survive".
My knees buckled and I had to sit down and after a minute or so couldn't get up again. First Aiders rushed into the studio insisting I was just dehydrated and that was all.
I thought, God how embarassing, as paramedics arrived and stretchered me off into the back of an ambulance. That was when they first mentioned STROKE and I thought, you must be joking!
I'm a fit and healthy 23 year old.in I.V.C overnight. I woke the next day confused and unable to move my entire left side and panicked, although I could still make highly inappropriate jokes, my slightly sick but hilarious sense of humour, was the shimer of the old me which broke through this stroke ridden husk of a man which allowed me to keep up with the rehab and recovery.
Nearly one year on, and I walk with an AFO strapped to my left leg and a scruffy looking hand splint. I stil have limited movement in my arm and hand and a severe limp, although I'm having fun inventing heroic stories to say how I got my limp like a Rudyard Kipling short. I'm still getting better and I will survive like that darn song which played as this demon entered my body
Thanks to Chi for sending in his profile. Anyone else who would like to share their story can send it along with a photograph (if you're not shy!)
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