Hello! My name is Michael Sullivan. I am a stroke survivor. My most recent stroke was May 11, 2025. This was stroke #4. I had nearly forgotten about strokes 1-3. It’s funny how events in life will always rise up and hit you when you’re least expecting it. I was 19.5 when I had my first three. (Actually, I’m not sure when stroke #3 happened - they told me at the hospital I was currently at that I’d had #3.) This was in 1998. We didn’t know much about strokes back then. I remember when I was sixteen I first heard about strokes. My mom told me, “It’s basically a death sentence.” But as you can plainly see, I’m still alive here in 2025.
There are two things that I want to tell you about. The first is that there is no pain. My stroke last May there was no pain. There is just a feeling of general not-rightness. I guess I was slurring more than usual. I don’t speak that much - my tongue has atrophied. (It’s funny how many interesting and difficult words that you learn just by being a bit different.) But, as they say, that’s neither here nor there. (Do they still say that? Hm, I wonder…) The second thing that I wanted to tell you was that I remember who I was both before strokes #1 - #3 and after. No one else does. My wife, whom I met when I was 22, doesn’t remember. My mother, who went through the whole thing with me, doesn’t remember. I had another point to make, but I don’t remember what it was. So I added in this point. I am still who I was in 1998. And may I never forget it. Yes it’s more difficult to speak now, but I CAN speak still. I stopped speaking because the world around 2000 didn’t care about what I had to say. Once I learned this, I stopped speaking. It wouldn’t do to blame the world. The world is temporary. But I’m going to shut up now and hit the magic Send button. Oh! One more thing! My personal victory story for today. I have had to bathe using a beastly shower chair since July. For my personal victory I climbed into the bathtub and climbed out again unassisted. My legs are finally strong enough to do that!