The title of Eileen Haas’s memoir, ALONG CAME A STROKE (My Story of Survival and Recovery), is reminiscent of that nursery rhyme phrase “along came a spider,” which connotes a sneak attack by something unwelcome, something sinister, something that slipped past one’s defenses. It is also an apt description of a stroke, which Haas suffered eight years ago on an otherwise bright day as she sat in her bedroom folding laundry. Realizing what was happening, she called a friend, who got her to a hospital in time to save her. The book is her account of Haas’s recovery from that life-threatening incident.
There isn’t a lot of plot to a stroke recovery. It’s mostly just sitting around and healing, with a little rehab thrown in. Haas compensates for this lack of action with sharp observations, moving insights (the discussion of adapting vs. learning is an eye-opener), and a wonderful wry voice. “When I got the little piece of paper every afternoon giving me breakfast choices,” she writes about her hospital stay, “I randomly circled things and promptly forgot them. So each breakfast in the cafeteria was a surprise.” Contemplating how the television in her room has only two channels, news and weather, she dismisses the former by saying, “The news belongs to someone else.” Her chapters are short, often only a page or two, giving them the feel of devotions, or maybe prose poems. In one, she compiles a list of stroke statistics. These could have been better integrated, but they are nonetheless fascinating. (Did you know a fetus can have a stroke in the womb?)
Above all, ALONG CAME A STROKE demonstrates Haas’s resilience, her unflagging humor, and her irrepressible spirit. Haas doesn’t bother diagnosing her readers or giving them gauzy advice. She merely tells her story (turns out 795,000 Americans per year are subject to strokes, it is the number 5 cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the United States–more statistics!) yet makes it entirely her own. Haas was a copywriter before her medical emergency, and it shows in this fluid, intelligent book. Potential readers may not be all recovering from strokes, but chances are (especially these days!) they’re recovering from something. Haas is an excellent model for such restoration.
Informative, engaging, and darkly funny, ALONG CAME A STROKE (My Story of Survival and Recovery) by Eileen Haas is the recovery memoir everyone needs.
~Anthony Aycock for IndieReader