Stride4Stroke

Ok, sorry I didn't get this post up yesterday. I was really busy at work and only work half days on Tuesdays and Thursdays now due to my school schedule and then after school I went home, did my homework, and off to Bunco I went! So, I'm here today to talk about strokes and what WE can do to help those who suffer from them.

I copied the following paragraph from Methodist Hospital's website:

"A stroke occurs every 45 seconds and kills every three minutes in the United States, making it the third leading cause of death for Americans. It is a major public health threat, and the statistics are even more alarming for Harris County, which has a higher stroke death rate than the national average. The only way to affect this alarming trend is to increase community awareness about this deadly and debilitating disease."

Never in a million years did I think my family would be faced with the reality of a stroke. My mom had her first stroke when she was only 39 years old! 39! You normally hear of strokes happening to older people and of course, never to your own family! My mom then had her second stroke just two months after her 10 year anniversary of her first stroke...at age 49...on Valentine's Day 2008. That's not all though...While in the ER for her stroke, a brain aneurysm was discovered. She under went brain surgery in May of 2008 at Methodist Hospital in Houston under the care of Dr.Rose and spent several days in the Neuro ICU. Our family is so thankful for Methodist Hospital. Their facility is up to date, clean, and the staff is amazing. My mom received some of the best patient care she has ever received there. And trust me, my mom has spent many weeks in other hospitals and never got the kind of care she did there.

The reason I'm writing all of this is to share information about the Stride4Stroke 5K Methodist Hospital sponsors every year. Last year was our first year to participate. We (my family) were still in shock about the recent events in our mom's life and we wanted to do something to help! We wanted to learn more about strokes and we also wanted to raise awareness about them. They can happen to anyone! At anytime! So my sister and I started a team called NeNe's Angels, NeNe is what her grandchildren call her. Last year we were able to get several friends and family members to walk with us and we raised several hundreds of dollars for this amazing cause.

I want to share the link to my donation page for Stride4Stroke. Please, if you have just a few spare dollars could you find it in your heart to donate to this beautiful cause? And if you're in the Houston area please feel free to sign up to join our team and walk this 5K with us! The walk takes place on the Rice University campus and it's just a gorgeous walk. I would never ever ask for donations for something I didn't think would make a difference...but I KNOW Methodist Hospital is making a difference in a stroke victims life every single day. So, please please...take a moment and visit my donation page in honor of my beautiful and strong mom!

Stride4Stroke 2009 - Aimee Torres



NeNe's real life angels!