“It’s hard to explain what it’s like being in a coma. A coma is a weird place, like a dream but all messed up. I remember being sat in a chair in a big open room with a needle stuck in my arm and being starved of oxygen, feeling very weak and hearing my heart…
When I was a little boy, I dreamed of becoming a doctor like my father. That dream died – when I was ten years old. I had a massvie stroke. And diagnosed with global aphasia – no reading, writing, or talking. That was nearly twenty years ago. I went to speech therapy for nearly fifteen…
In October 2003, I was cleaning the gutters on my house, the ladder slipped, and down I went hitting my head on the driveways concrete slap. Spent the 1st month into a medically induced coma and craniotomy surgery from a traumatic brain injury. In the 2nd month after awaking for my coma, my family tells…
Almost two years ago, I came back from trip to Israel. I was unpacking and getting ready for a family get-together when I had a stroke. I spent two weeks in the hospital recovering. I could only say four or five words but the therapist didn’t say I had aphasia. It was later that we…
I had a stroke in late 2006 and was diagnosed with aphasia. My husband and I visited Moses Cone Rehab Clinic. After a few weeks of speech therapy, we were told to go home with a few written speech therapy exercises to practice but that was not enough for me so I started using a…
I am a social worker and equal rights advocate. I taught at Fordham University in New York City and founded organizations including a shelter for abused women and children, and a national advocacy group for minorities. In 2001, I needed open heart surgery. While recovering, I had a stroke which led to aphasia. I started…
I went to the University of Illinois and then got my master’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania. I created my own computer company called NORCOM VARs Network, which I had for seven years. I have been married to my wife for 41 years. We have three children. I love to travel, scuba dive, ski…
My name is Vahan Dickran Khoyan and I am Armenian. I was born in Miami, Florida on January 10, 1944. I have been married for 35 years to my lovely wife, Linda. We have three sons and three grandchildren. I was a pilot for 44 years and the second youngest pilot with Eastern Airlines. I…
In April 2005, I was given a chance to go to England to become a Master’s level Social Worker for the British Council. I was so excited to have the opportunity to live in the town, Plymouth. However, Plymouth was cold and dreary. I was not happy in that area. So I did some research…