Our world seemed to stop spinning in the early morning hours of November 12, 2019. I awoke to my dear Roger in distress around 3 a.m and called 911 as soon as I realized this was not a dream and he was not responding to me normally. We lived in a pretty rural community at the time but thankfully it had a small hospital with an ER about 7 minutes away from us. I had a feeling I knew what was happening and when the first responders arrived my fears were confirmed as they used the phrase “apparent stroke”.

In the ER as the staff went in and out and coordinated with other doctors and hospitals, I never left his side. The CT showed a significant occlusion in Roger’s left carotid artery causing a major stroke event. I was terrified when they said they were going to fly him to Minneapolis (2.5 hours away) because we had really top notch facilities near by in Duluth. If they couldn’t handle this scenario there it must be bad. I could tell he was afraid yet fighting so hard to stay present with me. As my love struggled it all seemed to take way too long. Finally, Roger was flown from our small town of Two Harbors, MN to Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, MN. Roger was in a total of 4 medical facilities before finally making it home to me April 1, 2020 just before the Covid pandemic hit. That only seemed to add to our nightmare.

We know we were so fortunate with some initial financial help from many through a GoFundMe campaign. These funds helped sustain me while I was displaced from home and my job to be by Roger’s side. The generosity of others at that time helped us in immeasurable ways.

Fast forward…two and a half years and we made a big move from MN to TN, May 2022. After moving, I started thinking about how fortunate we were to be able to afford me quitting my job during the pandemic in May of 2020 to care for Roger fulltime on his recovery journey. Roger still works hard everyday. It can be hard at times but he is medically stable and we are financially stable. We feel so thankful for all that we still have. Most of all we are so thankful to still have each other, partners always.