In the fall of 2018, I was going through a presentation at work when I had to stop because I experienced the worst headache of my life. I couldn’t even stand. My coworkers quickly reacted, calling an ambulance, which is what saved my life. I suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. Blood covered the frontal lobe of my brain which is the “control panel” of our personality and ability to communicate. I had a risky emergency procedure that stopped further bleeding, but I then had a seizure and a stroke a couple days later. This made recovery very difficult as I experienced thought process problems, insomnia, headaches, and even had some physical impairments with my eye. Luckily, none of these were permanent, which is rare.

The brain aneurysm rupture was due to my untreated high blood pressure and that’s when I realized how many people have the same warning signs. That was a turning point for me and I wanted to get involved to spread awareness. I became involved with the American Heart Association, specifically Go Red for Women where I joined as an Executive Cabinet Member. I am now able to speak up and empower people to take their heart and brain health into their own hands by providing educational resources telling my story.

After graduating from The University of Florida with a bachelor’s in marketing, I am now Senior Digital Media Director at Chacka Marketing, where I have worked for the past 7 years. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my husband, friends and my loving pets.