Inspirational Stories

A red herring is a literary device that is sometimes used to draw an audience’s attention from the real plot by creating a distracting clue or event. Red herrings are fun and interesting when used in theater. A red herring applied to critical health issues is a much more dangerous situation. At 38 years old Brooke Allen was a vibrant and successful business woman. Her 18 years of service and dedication at Macy’s Department Store saw her work her way ...

Nine years ago Missi Hedrick went to bed and fell asleep in one world and awoke the next day in an entirely different world. Before February 15, 2011 the world Missi knew was pretty normal for a 41 year old single mom with 3 kids. There was her work at the medical research firm where she was a documentation specialist. Her days were filled with writing protocols, research logs and essays, with an occasional business trip to L.A. Then there ...

Interview by John Lummis “Dad, I can’t understand you.” John Lummis was at work having a phone conversation with his son when he began having trouble moving his left arm and leg. Initially the arm numbness led him to think he was experiencing the first signs of a heart attack. But when he began having trouble with his speech he knew it was a stroke. Eleven years as a volunteer firefighter had taught him to think critically in emergency situations. ...

Denae Du Charme has a tattoo. It is a simple one. No skulls or fire or animal totems. In the center there is a red ribbon with a loop. Above the ribbon it says Stroke and below the ribbon, Survivor.  Across the middle of the tattoo is a date, 4-2-2013, and written on the ribbon is Warrior, which is a fair assessment of anyone who is engaged in the battle to reclaim their life from the physical, emotional and psychological ...

He came at me while I was asleep. Only a coward goes after someone when they’re asleep. And make no mistake about it, the Angel of Death is a gutless coward. You never know when he’ll strike – that’s his edge. And when he left that night, he had robbed me of half my body, a forceful stride, a livelihood and had poked a hole in the right side of my brain the size of a quarter. But in his ...