While she was a college student at U of I in Champaign-Urbana, after she
experienced lots of migraine headaches and seizures, Lisa Stuckel was
told that she had an Arterio-Venous Malformation (AVM). This problem is
genetic, but Lisa didn’t want to deal with it because she thought, “I
have my fantastic life, and I do not want anything to stand in my way.”
In 1990, in her late 20s, she finally elected to have brain surgery to
correct the AVM.

Before 1990, Lisa thought she had it all. She calls it her 1st life. She
had a fantastic career. She was the Regional Manager of ten Carson Pirie
Scott stores in Illinois and Wisconsin. She also started her own
successful jewelry design business, called “Box Barge.” She had “the
most perfect boyfriend” who, like Lisa, had a creative career, was
physically active, with a supportive family and lots of friends. And,
right before her medical trauma, Lisa had just purchased a brand new
Chrysler LeBaron.

Later in her twenties, Lisa’s seizures started to get much more frequent
and escalated to much more intense, grand mal seizures. She thought
eventually she might die from them, or that she might kill someone in
her car if she ever had a seizure while driving. She knew she could not
continue to live with that pressure anymore.

In 1988, with her father and her neurologist, they researched to find
the best neurosurgeon in the country. She flew to several cities to meet
the doctors and to look at their hospitals. She chose Dr. Robert
Spetzler, a neurosurgeon from St. Joseph\'s Hospital in Phoenix,
Arizona, at the Barrow Neurological Institute. When she met him and
looked at his hospital, she felt it all clicked for her. She thought she
would have brain surgery, a couple of months of therapy, and then she
would be back at work. However, on a scale of 1-5, and 5 being the worst
and largest malformation, Lisa had a 5. Also, Dr Spetzler did warn Lisa
that strokes are a risk factor with this type of surgery, but that
didn’t deter her. She knew she had to do it.

Dr. Spetzler realized that because the malformation was so large, he
would have to operate on it a small section at a time. So, all together,
Lisa suffered 2 strokes during 7 brain surgeries!! For a while she was
in a drug-induced coma and she only had a 50/50 chance of living. When
she started to recover, she was paralyzed on her whole left side, she
was blind, she could not walk, talk or even dress herself. Everyone
looked at her as if she was a baby, starting over again! Lisa’s family
was told that Lisa would never again live on her own. It was a
devastating time in her still young life.

Lisa felt that through the power from the Beings Up Above, through
excellent doctors, through a fabulous therapist, and maybe most
important, through the Power Within, she utilized the true keys to
recovery.

After Lisa\'s medical madness, she lost her first life! She lost her
career, her boyfriend, her car, her apartment, her sense of humor, some
of her memory and even her personality! She also lost some close
relationships that she used to have from brothers, sisters and friends.
Lisa was depressed in the beginning of her recovery, only to realize
that the depression was only hindering her from getting better faster.
The key that she felt helped her the most, was recognition of the
FIGHTER within herself. Through hard work during therapies, through
positive thinking, through the power of prayer…..who knows how far we
can soar? Even though most of her doctors told her that she would
recover in about 12 years, her recovery has been almost 20 years, and
she feels that she is still recovering. She always thinks: Do not ever
give up!

When Lisa was told that she had a 50/50 chance of living, she had a
Spiritual experience! She will tell you that she was not a perfect
person in any way, and she still can not believe that it happened. One
night when she was in bed but not sleeping, she saw Jesus! He said to
her: “You are going to get better, and you will need to help others who
are going through similar experiences to yours.”

About three years after her rehabilitation, she started to volunteer at
Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, IL. She volunteers on the 6W
floor, the rehabilitation unit helping mostly brain injured, stroke, and
amputee patients. Finally, she realized why she is still here on this
earth…to help others in recovery. She also volunteers at Marianjoy
Rehabilitation Center in Wheaton, Il, where she was also a patient in
1990. For a while, in the late 1990s she was also doing volunteer work
at the American Heart Association and at Alexian Brothers Medical
Center.

Lisa feels, even though she lost so much of her first life, she gained
3x more in this 2nd life. Even though she had to start over again, she
looks at it as “Thank God I have the opportunity to start over!” She
also married a fine, loving man about 5 years ago, and today she is much
more dedicated to her health. She exercises and jogs, and sleeps twice
as much as the old days, because she is so much more organized. She
drinks a lot less coffee and alcohol. She even feels she is a better
person and her Spiritual side is much stronger. She continues to focus
on the positive things of life, calling them “the keys to health and
happiness. “