“Buddy, you have NO IDEA who I am!”

That’s what Angela Wright thought when, after surviving a stroke, she was told that she’d never live independently or hold a job again. She was 38 years old at the time.

Two years later, she spent four months traveling around India, Nepal, and Bhutan. Alone. It wasn’t an easy road. Angela describes the process of recovery and rehabilitation as long, difficult, and miraculous. One of the most difficult challenges, she says, is that there was no peer support available. Most of the groups and resources out there are geared towards more mature stroke survivors, and they just

didn’t meet Angela’s unique needs as a younger adult.

“Now what”, she wondered.

Since existing resources didn’t quite fit, Angela took matters into her own hands. “I created Young Stroke Survivors (YSS), which is a group for anyone who self-identifies as a young stroke survivor.” The group provides some of the support and information that Angela couldn’t find.

YSS is now part of the Stroke Recovery Association of BC, an affiliate of March of Dimes Canada. 

“The need is great,” Angela adds. That’s where After Stroke

and March of Dimes Canada come in.