My name is Marisa Kirk, I am 23 years old. I am an alumna of Southeast Missouri State University as of August 2024 and of the Phi Mu chapter of Delta Delta Delta female fraternity as of May 2024. I live in St. Louis, Missouri. In June and August of 2021, I had hemorrhagic strokes,( bleeding in the brain as opposed to a clot) and I was diagnosed with a grade 4, bordering on grade 5 on the Spetzler Martin scale Arteriovenous Malformation– a tangle of veins and arteries that likely formed in utero and continued growing my whole life until it ruptured–, and began pursuing treatment through the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. This was when I joined the brain injury community because any internal or external injury to the brain is a bad, bad thing. This unites those of us affected by brain injuries of all colors.

Following my second (nearly fatal) stroke in August, I spent 23 days basically comatose in Washington University’s Barnes Jewish Hospital’s neuro ICU before being airlifted to Phoenix for my AVM resection almost a month later. I stayed in Phoenix for nine months following my initial surgeries to do inpatient and acute rehabilitation at St. Joseph’s to learn how to walk with the assistance of my parents, learn how to go up and down curbs, in and out of cars, in and out of the shower, on and off the toilet, etc. Life was tough. My parents took turns staying with me in Phoenix because I had my little sister finishing high school back in St. Louis.

Then, after inpatient rehab, I was accepted to the incredible Center for Transitional Neurorehabilitation (CTN). They were incredible, but when I told them from my wheelchair that I was going back to school in Cape the following school year, they looked at me like I had three heads! Nonetheless, I asked them to push me as hard as they were comfortable pushing me, I wanted to make it happen. From October 2021-July 2022, I was in therapy, physical, occupational, speech, neuropsychological(a psychologist that has training in brain injuries to help me and about 40 other patients in my cohort cope with our injuries), and even recreational therapy, for 8 ish hours a day, from 9am until 4:30pm Monday-Friday. CTN was really big on developing compensations to help you cope with your injury. I actually dated a guy from there for about a year following my Cake Day (graduation). He and I are good friends now.

After getting home from the daily therapy, I also had a custom built Home Exercise Program (HEP) that I completed everyday, it took about 90 minutes. It was focused on what my deficits were. My therapy regimen in Phoenix was intense, about 10 hours a day. I am super blessed that I was able to be supported by my parents, grandparents, and friends I made in Phoenix during this time. My Cake Day and Daren’s Cake Day were a day apart. My Cake Day was the biggest in CTN history, the Milieu room was packed, standing room only in the room. Milieu was a community gathering at CTN where the patients shared updates and positives on therapy, and things we were grateful for. It was a really powerful thing to be a part of. Everyone enjoyed Cake Days, they were a culmination of how hard we worked at CTN and we finally got to show what we had been working on. I also had about 150 people on a Zoom call on the projector in the front of the room. People all around the US, and the world really came to watch and support me on my Cake Day. I loved it. I was sad to leave my friends I had made there but I wanted to get back to my life in Cape Girardeau. We departed from Phoenix a few days later, packing up our life there and heading home because the 2022 school year was starting just a couple weeks later, and I needed to get moved into the off campus house I was living in, fully independently, and driving too.

Once I returned to Cape, I started with St. Francis Outpatient Rehabilitation. I started seeing all of the disciplines that they offered: Speech, Occupational, and Physical Therapy. These people became a huge support network for me, and many of them even became friends. I became someone who supported the other patients being seen, and I was well-known at the hospital. There was a gym on the same floor as the rehab department. I had a gym membership to this gym. Then, slowly, I got discharged from the disciplines. The speech went first because my voice and facial symmetry got back to where I wanted them to be fairly quickly. I did the exercises at home to make this happen. My life has become very therapy and recovery-focused for the last 3.5 years. I set so many personal goals that my therapists did not even think about. I wanted to become independent in the gym, because I was thinking about post college. I love rehab. I have always been very goal oriented, and during the last three years, I have become very self improvement oriented. I have found serious joy in pushing myself to think flexibly so I can do things better myself. This is difficult for two handed, fully capable people to watch. They see it as a struggle. But I don’t see it that way. I think it’s fun to figure things out by myself. Two handers are impatient, they want things done faster than I am capable of as a one handed person. But I have definitely developed serious patience with myself. But if people would just give me a damn minute, my brain will figure it out. I have also learned I can do anything I set my mind to. 

Then, eventually, there was nothing more I could do in physical therapy sessions, so I was discharged from that, too. We set up occupational sessions for my last one to be around graduation day. Then, I participated in the Spring Commencement Ceremony on May 11, 2024. This was my finish line. I had been working towards this day since my stroke happened on August 9, 2021. This was a very emotional day. All three of my grandmothers, my grandpa, my aunt (his sister), my parents, and my boyfriend (a different boyfriend than the one from CTN) at the time were there to support me. That day, after we had dinner, we packed up my room in my house and drove home to St. Louis, to my cat that I adopted from the streets of Cape in August of 2023. I’ve been in St. Louis ever since.

After graduation, I had to complete a 450-hour internship– about 9-12 weeks– to complete my degree. I worked at Delmar Gardens of Meramec Valley as an Administrator in training. I was not paid, but regardless, I formed some incredible relationships with the residents and my coworkers. I loved it!! It was so much fun!! I thought my path was to become an activities director at another home after this internship. I interviewed at two different homes, but neither panned out. I was unemployed for about two months before my current job came along.

I love my job. I get to work from my bed, my desk, or my couch. Whenever I want to get my duties done. Slowly, I’m gaining more responsibilities. I think 2025 will be an exciting year!!

2024 was a year of completion of a lot of goals that I set for myself. I graduated from SEMO on time, with honors, went alum with my pledge class in my sorority, completed as 450-hour internship, worked 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, and secured a job that works for my schedule. I was also accepted to an Ischemic stroke survivor clinical trial as the only Hemorrhagic stroke survivor on it. It’s called Ipsihand by Neurolutions. I will finish it in early February. This trial will open doors for my further hand rehabilitation and for other Hemorrhagic stroke survivors, so this modem of treatment is not exclusive to ischemic stroke survivors.
That’s all for now! I’m not sure if you are able to message me, but if you have questions, drop a comment, and I will do my best to reply!!☺