Ten years ago, when I was 20, young, hopeful and free, on a cold evening of -20 in Edmonton, Albertan, I was walking with a euphoric feeling. The clause of this feeling was luminary, with no how, but when my brain disease just attacked this instant and paralyzed the right side of my body, and my ability to communicate was gone. This is my story.
Simply enough, I am a stroke survivor and still alive. For sure, I had huge concerns and
problems. Baby steps. Breathe. Lots of serious things. Just breathe. Day by day. I will get back my ability to walk and talk. Stroke survivor, mind you. I can do it, 10 more years later.
I was a student and the Editor of The Gateway Edmonton’s newspaper, Art and Entertainment until the stroke happened. I talked about movies, music albums, plays and other arts and culture related topics like Kanye West’s, Lady Gaga’s, and my best interview was Joe Rogan. And in the future I want to go to Austin, Texas to interview him again. Fingers crossed. I’m not in a rush but meeting a second time is crucial and necessary. Gaga is in the second category. Still important though.
But in late 2010, I arrived at the hospital unconscious, things were dire. Surgery was performed yet my brain was swollen and under pressure. After 10 days in the intensive care unit I could not walk or talk. After 11 months in 3 hospitals, I gained wisdom but only a couple of lines and had a long way to go. I did learn to walk and take care of myself which is prime. I did go back to school on campus and with a not-so-hot voice but I did write the tell-all feature story, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Road to Recovery. I sent it and won the award for Diversity students in The Gateway .
(https://thegatewayonline.ca/2015/10/feature-my-beautiful-dark-twisted-road-to-recovery/ ) I didn’t speak so I dictation, or spit out and auto-correct and gruesomely 2 months of sweating bullets. It was exhausted but finished.
Now, I am promoting my YouTube channel called Stroke How To .
( https://youtube.com/channel/UCWbbACu2yHbIB4SM78VkYow ) It’s an intimate discussion a few minutes long about my scar, my hospital watching “50 First Dates,” and 14 other videos and many more to come in the future.
But I need your help. I need more subscribers and I will tell you why: Cardiovascular disease— or, more simple, Heart and Stroke — is number one killer by the landslide and no one is talking about it. Number two is Cancer and very serious too, but we should talk about being aware of the body first and second a career. Life is precious and that’s why I need more than 1000 subscribers then I will have longer interviews, different strokes, internal disease and branch out even further. Beyond.
Please subscribe to my channel. I will be dedicated to you truly and sincerely. Subscribe it, like it, share it and pass along to the other. I know, I know: I am persistent. I should be grateful although, but I want to do more.
I check on my YouTube channel, day by day, and notice a few weeks ago lots of people
subscribed to my channel, but one person unsubscribed. Which is fine but all my subscribers are dear to me. Sacred even. Still though confused and betwixt? Maybe they were a stroke survivor, or a student who I spoke to? Or old or new friends? Whatever it is, I lost one.
I’ll make up for it. I’m 30 after all? Baby steps. Day by day.
Evan Mudryk
Stroke Survivor, Writer and Host of Stroke How To