The night Marilyn Watson had a stroke seemed like any other. Marilyn and her daughter were grocery shopping at the local Walmart, as they had done so many times before. Marilyn had a faint dizzy spell but shook it off and continued down the aisle. A second one followed, but again, she brushed it off. They finished shopping and headed home.

The following day, Marilyn woke unable to move her right arm, which quickly progressed to her entire right side. Marilyn’s daughter rushed her to the emergency room, where tests revealed that Marilyn had a stroke.

The diagnosis left Marilyn with many thoughts. “How could I have had a stroke?” she wondered. Marilyn was an avid reader, a retired music teacher, and a choir singer. She attends a book club at her church and just got a new apartment. “Why was this happening to me?” Marylin continued to ponder as she traded in her books for a hospital gown and wondered if she’d ever use her dominant right hand again.

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