Life after stroke: Shea Heights woman's recovery continues after a stroke at 27

At 27 years old, with a busy career and active lifestyle, Erica Norman doesn't sound like someone at risk for stroke.

But this winterthe Memorial University graduate, who was working in Indiana as a mechanical engineer, became one of the women the Heart and Stroke Foundation says are disproportionately affected by stroke, according to a 2018 stroke report the foundation released Tuesday.

Unknown to Norman, she was born withanarteriovenousmalformation,an abnormal cluster of blood vessels in her brain. On Nov. 13, one of those vessels burst, leading to a stroke.

Norman spent a week in the hospital, leaving with limited use of her left arm and leg and $100,000 USin medical bills because her job contract didn't include medical benefits something that seemed like a small risk given her healthy lifestyle and young age.

Women more likely to die after stroke

Even if Norman didn't have some of the other common risk factors for stroke which include smoking, an unhealthy weightand excessive drinking or drug use she did have one of them: she's a woman.

Every 17 minutes, a woman in Canada has a stroke. One in five of those women dies as a result. And when compared with men, women are 35 per cent more likely to die within a year of having a stroke.

• More women die after stroke than men, Heart & Stroke says
• Bridging the gender gap in the science of strokes
• New stroke guidelines mean more patients could get life-changing treatment

These startling statistics are part of the foundation's push to raise awareness about stroke risk in women. In a national poll conducted in Januaryfor the Heart and Stroke Foundation, 40 per cent of female respondents didn't know what a stroke was, let alone what to look out for.

Recovery a struggle, but going well

Seven months after the stroke, Norman is back home in the Shea Heightsneighbourhood of St. John's and considers herself more or less recovered.

A crowdfunding campaign started by her sister-in-law helped raise nearly $55,000 toward her care. She regained use of her limbs and can walk without assistance, one of her biggest goals when she started rehabilitation.

• $77K and climbing: Shea Heights woman facing rehabilitation, steep medical bills after stroke in U.S.

But during the first few weeks when she required a walker to get around, Norman said the stares she got were difficult to take, even if they were understandable.

"A lot of the times it was embarrassing. I don't blame people for staring and being confused about why a 27-year-old girl is with a walker," she said.

She also found it hard when people would speak softer and slower or use a baby voice with her when she had a walker or was in a wheelchair, relatingher physical disorder with a mental disorder and treating her differently.

But the toughest part for Norman: the mental aspect.

When retraining her brain to synchronize with her body movements,Norman had to spend days isolated in a blacked-out room,left her alone with nothing but her thoughts.

"I was almost overthinking so much to the point that I then couldn't go to sleep," she said. "I had thought that if I went to sleep I was not going to wake up those types of things."

She also often felt defeated when it came to her physical recovery, and Normanadmits that sometimes she wanted to give up.

But more often than not, she would tell herself "maybe I fail today, but tomorrow I'll try again and I won't fail."

'I'm me again, plus more'

Norman's not quite doing everything that she used to.

"I can't run a marathon, let's just say that."

But she was back in the gym doing squats five weeks after the stroke, and todayshe's very happy with where she is. "I'm me again, plus more," she said.

The "more" is her new outlook on life. In the past, Norman said she made decisions based on security and income, but now she focuses on what means most to her and makes her happy.

Norman said she gets a lot of self-satisfaction out of helping people, which is why she'll be pursuing a master's degree in physiotherapyin Scotland come January.

Having developed the tools to overcome obstacles faced by many during rehabilitation, she hopes to share those with others like her.

"I can try to help people who need a second chance like I did," Norman said.

"I'm really excited to go and just help save lives."

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