The story of my health journey is a long and frustrating one.
Frustrating may be an understatement.

At the age of fifty-something, while working for a large engineering firm as a Project Manager, I began having headaches. The headaches were so severe that one day I passed out during a meeting with HR. At the time, no one knew the cause of this syncope episode, but my supervisors assumed that I had been drinking, though I had not been. they sent me home once I regained consciousness, failing to follow the proper company guidelines to involve the on-site medical personnel. This failure to follow protocol later had huge consequences for both them and me, but that is a story for another day. Thus began my health issues and my search for answers. 

First, I was misdiagnosed as having Transient Ischemic Attacks due to low blood pressure. This was not the answer, and this incorrect diagnosis had its own consequences. The medication that was prescribed to treat the attacks caused vision problems that still affect me to this day. 

Next, I started having absent seizures which caused fainting and facial disfigurement. My doctor at the time assumed I was having diabetic seizures, despite no history of diabetes.  I was tested for epilepsy, but that turned out not to be the cause of my episodes either.

Eventually, I managed to get an appointment at The John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. This is where I was finally diagnosed with Hemiplegic Migraines. While it was a relief to finally have a diagnosis, I wish I had continued treatment there instead of returning to Atlanta.

But I did return to Atlanta, where I started going to a Migraine specialist, and this is where things went from bad to worse... Rather than treating me with traditional methods for Hemiplegic Migraines, he instead experimented on me and 19 other patients.  His experiments are what eventually led to my Traumatic Brain Injury, after he injected an experimental drug directly into my brain (accidentally), causing a series of strokes. 

I finally found the right doctor at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta. I credit Dr. Darryl Kaelin with saving my life. Despite the damage to both hemispheres of my brain, he led me through an extensive rehabilitation process, teaching my brain the neuroplasticity necessary to become a functional person again.

I worked with Dr. Kaelin at the Sheppard Brain Center extensively. One day, I had on a beaded chain with a pendant on it, which I had made. I can't remember where I got the beads. But when Dr. Kaelin saw it, he asked if I'd made anything before. I had not. He told me to keep it up. Three months later, I had made endless and complex designs. I made so much jewelry, I had to give it away. I quit counting after I created over 2000 individual pieces of art.  Dr. Kaelin became so instrumental in my care that I eventually moved to Louisville, KY after he moved there.

From beads, to sterling silver, to fine jewelry, I moved into art photography, leather work, metal work, and resin designs. (A new website featuring my art is now live.) I even dabble in landscape design! In conversation, a lot of my engineering brain still comes out, but I repeatedly undergo Frazier's Brain & Neural Rehabilitaion Program whenever I feel I need a check-up, in order to keep my brain's plasticity active. 

Since then, there have been ups and downs. I thought I was finally in the clear when I began having severe pain on my right side which required gamma knife radiation.
 
Despite all of this, I am optimistic about my future, thanks to the treatments that I receive at UofL’s Frazier Center with Dr. Kaelin, and at the Cleveland Clinic. I want others to benefit from all that I have learned, and hopefully avoid the road blocks I’ve encountered along the way. This is why I founded the Gemassist Brain Awareness Foundation.

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