The Luckiest Girl in the World: My Story of Struggle & Hope in Overcoming Pediatric Stroke

Growing up, everyone would always say how lucky I was, but at the time I was not sure what they meant. I was just doing what I always loved; skating and playing ice hockey. Everything seemed to go my way, from winning virtually every raffle I entered to scoring the game-winning goal whenever my team needed it. As I got a little older, I could feel these things before they happened, as if I knew that I was going to catch the corner of the net to get the puck past the goalie as time expired. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world. Becoming an Olympian was something I thought about as far back as I could remember. By the time I was twelve, I was well on my way to living my dream.

Then, on August 9, 2008 I suffered a stroke during a hockey game. No one suspected that such a thing could happen to a twelve-year old, but as the reality of pediatric stroke turned my dream into a nightmare, the journey back to skating and playing hockey again showed me just how much I could accomplish with the love and support of my family and people all around me who cared.

And I came to realize that I truly was the luckiest girl in the world.