一位小学教师在30岁时中风，失去了快乐. 然后她收回了它.

Elementary school teacher Rachel Henry had been having monster headaches for a few weeks. She complained about them to colleagues, family, even the school nurse. 似乎没有人关心这位30岁的老人. Henry, who lives in Worcester, Massachusetts, assumed they would pass.

At a routine checkup for a thyroid condition, Henry was checked in by a nurse. When the nurse and doctor returned a few minutes later, they found Henry slumped over. 她的左半身瘫痪了. 她咽不下去.

医生以为亨利中风了，于是拨打了911. At the hospital, doctors said an artery in her brain stem had burst and she had a hemorrhagic stroke. Doctors thought it might have been related to a neck injury she'd had during a recent car accident, 但他们不能肯定.

亨利的四肢很快恢复了活动. The stroke did not impact her cognitive ability; she could process and understand everything. She could speak, but haltingly because of spastic muscles in the left side of her face and neck. 最大的问题是她失去了吞咽的能力.

She went to a nursing home for speech therapy to regain her swallow function. She found the environment so depressing that she checked herself out four days later.

在家里，独自生活的亨利独自照顾自己. 她安装了机器，通过胃里的一根管子给她喂食, 监测食物和液体的滴注量. 她必须不断地把唾沫吸出来，否则她就会被噎住. 有人教她如何在一个小斜坡上睡觉, tipping forward so her saliva would drain and thus not need suctioning; still, 她害怕窒息.

Four days a week she would see a speech therapist for what's called deep pharyngeal neuromuscular stimulation, 一种针对吞咽困难患者的电刺激疗法, 或者吞咽困难.

One day, she visited her elementary students so they could see that she was OK. 当她说话时，她能感觉到唾沫在积聚. She had to break away frequently and stealthily use her suction machine, 她把它放在包里背在肩上. 她感到羞愧和尴尬.

当亨利努力康复的时候，她内心的一部分却想死. 她会过什么样的生活啊? She had wanted to get married and have children, but that seemed out of reach now. 她觉得自己老了, 尤其是当她看到她的一个好朋友, 布瑞特·理查森, 怀上了第二个孩子.

“对瑞秋来说，那是一段非常黑暗的时光，”理查森说. “她很孤独，但我一直在联系她. 我记得我很担心她."

In the summer of 2003, nine weeks after the stroke, Henry regained her ability to swallow. Half a year later, her speaking had improved, though the muscle spasms remained. She had other permanent issues as well – deep fatigue; no sensation of heat, cold or pain on the right side of her body; and a lack of thermoregulation, 这意味着她的身体可能会过热或变冷.

她的病假九个月后就到期了. 在助教的帮助下，她重新开始工作.

同年, 她还在伍斯特心脏行走中走了1英里, 一项使她自豪的成就.

尽管如此，亨利的生活还是很不正常. 即使病情有所好转，她还是担心会再次中风.

“为什么是我?她不停地问.

然后有一天，没有任何原因，她改变了方向.

“我不再想，‘为什么是我?我开始想:“为什么不是我呢??’”她说。.

理查森立刻看出了她朋友的不同. “我知道她有能力扭转局面，”她说. 她真的这么做了."

Henry started reaching out to help others through the 美国心脏协会, 从参加“心脏行走”到与其他幸存者交谈. She and her students created a song to help children understand the signs of a stroke in an adult and to call 911.

“与美国心脏协会合作是第一次有人对我说, “作为一个残疾人，你的生命是有价值的. 你是特别的. 我们想听到你的声音，即使你说得很慢，’”她说.

Even as things improved, she still thought having a husband or starting a family was out of reach. 这时，蒂莫西·亨利来了.

他们于2006年相识，并于2008年结婚. 2009年，他们的儿子杰森出生了.

在此过程中，瑞秋开始参与中风倡导活动. She testified for the need for quick treatment in stroke patients at both the state and national level. She continues to push for the passage of Massachusetts legislation to develop a coordinated stroke care system.

瑞秋喜欢每年夏天接受新的挑战. 有一年，它烤了一条八股的面包. 另一个沙巴足球体育平台, 是和杰森一起从码头跳入水中, confident she would be able to close her mouth before water could get in.

她目前的目标, 在她中风20年后, are to get her students to join her in a Heart Walk and to win a top prize in the Spencer Fair. She's already nabbed multiple blue ribbons for crafts as diverse as crochet, 摄影, 烘焙食品和木工.

理查森说:“我总是对雷切尔感到惊讶. “她有这些困难，但仍然很外向，很有趣. 我很尊敬她."

More than anything, Rachel said she wants her fellow stroke survivors to believe in their own value.

“我知道这有多难，”她说. “如果你能放下过去的自己, 但相信你会成为一个了不起的人, 快乐马上就会到来."

发自内心的故事 chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.