My Story

On February 9, 2026, when I was 40 years old, my life changed in an instant.

I was involved in what initially seemed like a minor car accident. I had the green light and was only driving about 15 miles per hour when a young woman who did not have a driver’s license turned left in front of me and hit me head-on. The impact totaled my car.

Police and an ambulance arrived at the scene, but at the time I thought I was okay. I was shaken up, but I didn’t feel seriously hurt, so I declined going in the ambulance and went home.

Not long after I got home, I realized something didn’t feel right. My daughter drove me to the hospital. We waited in the waiting room for about two hours. I felt “off,” but I wasn’t dizzy yet and I was still able to walk.

When I finally went into the triage room, everything suddenly changed.

Out of nowhere, I heard a loud whooshing sound in my ear. Then the entire room began spinning violently. My eyes began moving uncontrollably back and forth. I started vomiting and suddenly could not stand or walk. It was one of the most terrifying physical sensations I have ever experienced.

In the emergency room they performed a CT scan, but it didn’t show anything abnormal. The doctors did not yet know what was wrong.

Two days later they finally performed an MRI. That’s when they discovered the truth — I had suffered a stroke in my cerebellum, which doctors later determined was caused by whiplash from the car accident.

I was immediately flown to another hospital for specialized care.

The stroke left me with severe and life-altering symptoms. I now suffer from serious balance problems and severe trunk ataxia, which makes walking extremely difficult. I also experience double vision, and the vision in my left eye is blurry.

The left side of my face has also become more paralyzed. It was already partially paralyzed from a previous trauma — a gunshot wound I survived during a home invasion — but the stroke made the paralysis even worse.

This stroke has affected every part of my life.

Today, I am in a wheelchair, working every day to recover and adapt to a reality I never expected.

But I am still here.
And I am still fighting.