Kristen Aguirre was working as a TV reporter and anchor in Denver, CO, when she had her stroke. What followed, of course, changed her life. She spent months in rehab, eventually returned to the air. She has since left that role and now focuses on her recovery, her workouts, and working with other survivors. We cover all that and more in this episode.
Bio
Kristen Aguirre is an emmy nominated latina journalist turned young stroke survivor. At the age of 31 Kristen suffered an ischemic stroke. It left the entire left side of her body paralyzed. Her doctors told her she would probably need a wheelchair the rest of her life.
Despite the prognosis Kristen kept pushing and never lost hope. After months in the hospital and therapy, Kristen is now back to running, lifting weights and rebuilding her career.
She uses her story to motivate others to never stop pushing and how to hold onto hope in daunting times.
Gratitude
One of the topics Kristen talks about is gratitude. As part of her daily prayer and meditation ritual she makes certain to find something to be thankful for each day. At the very least, we’re here. We woke up today. And that’s the start of any new amazing journey.
Neurofatigue
After a stroke, naps take on new importance. Our brains, working with fewer optimized resources, burn a lot more energy. Plus, a lot of the work of recovery and neuroplasticity can only happen as we sleep. I talked about it in the episodes on this page.
It can be a big thing in a person’s life. While I don’t deal with it as much these days, it still pops up from time-to-time (usually when I’ve been getting less sleep for other reasons…go figure). If I have another injury it will come roaring back with a vengeance.
When it does, it’s not like being tired. There’s no reserve bank of energy to dig into. There’s not an option to push through, Sleep suddenly becomes essential.
Part of living with stroke is not having a reserve pool of resources or bunch of spare spoons. Naps are the natural result of looking into that pool and finding it empty.
Like Minded
Kristen teaches a women’s empowerment workshop in Jane Connely’s Like Minded program. Several Strokecast guest teach in that program. You can find those interviews with Jane, Joe, Ella, Vince, and now Kristen at Http://Strokecast.com/LikeMinded
To learn more about this program for brain injury survivors that comes from the mind of Heal the Brain with Jane, visit the program here:
https://healingthebrainwithjane.com/membership-purchase
Beauty and Her Brain
Kristen is starting her own podcast focused on issues women face in stroke world. Kristen herself talked about navigating post stroke life and balancing her deficits with her appearance and with getting comfortable in her new skin.
While she’s working on the show, she’s already profiling some of these amazing women on the Instagram page for the show here: https://www.instagram.com/beautyand_herbrain/
Once the show is live I look forward to listening to it and adding it to this list of stroke-related podcasts.
Links
| Kristen Aguirre on Instagram | |
| Beauty and Her Brain on Instagram | |
| Kristen Aguirre website | |
| Kristen on LinkedIn | |
| Kristen on Muck Rack | |
| Kristen on Twitter | |
| Craig Hospital | |
| Talking Yoga | |
| Like Minded with Heal the Brain with Jane | |
| Like Minded Instructors on Strokecast | |
| Neurofatigue on Strokecast | |
| Other Stroke Podcasts |
Where do we go from here?
- Follow Kristen on Instagram @KristenAguirre
- Tell us what you’re grateful for this week and tag @KristenAguirre and @Bills_Strokecast on Instagram or @KristenAguirre and @CurrentlyBill on Twitter so we can celebrate your gratitude with you.
- Subscribe to Strokecast for free in your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode
- Don’t get best…get better.
Strokecast is the stroke podcast where a Gen X stroke survivor explores rehab, recovery, the frontiers of neuroscience and one-handed banana peeling by helping stroke survivors, caregivers, medical providers and stroke industry affiliates connect and share their stories.
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