Savannah Hollis

Fate. As cheesy as it seems sometimes, I believe in it. I also believe in flukes. My stroke was a fluke. Stumbling across Savannah Hollis was fate.

Approximately two weeks ago I was at King Sooper’s picking up a few things with Rich. Normally, as we stand in the checkout line, he drives the cart while I drift off into the magazine and candy section. My usual, last-minute magazine purchases can range from US Magazine or InTouch to Self Magazine or Real Simple. But that day Kate Hudson was on the front cover of the October 2008 issue of Cosmopolitan. I love Kate. I hate Cosmo. I was at a crossroads. My dislike for Cosmo stems from the fact that these types of headlines are splashed across the front cover on a monthly basis: ‘Guys Talk Sex: She Did What?! Outrageous Things Chics do in Bed’; ‘How to be Bitchy Just Enough’; ‘15 Date Ideas He’ll Be Into’; ‘His Body: The Nonverbal Clues That Let You Read His Mind’; ‘Plus, How Long Guys Want Sex to Last’; and ‘Beauty News: Scents That Seduce Any Man.’

Actually, every single one of these headlines graced the cover of the October issue. I’m not kidding.

Hands down, I am not a feminist in any sense of the word, but just in those titles alone there are six references to a man and how you can please him or his and what he’ll be into or how he wants sex. And, the only time a reference to a woman is made, we are referred to as a “chic” and a “bitch.” What? Are men writing this magazine or something? Get my point? But, like I said I love Kate and decided to set my personal problems aside (just this once) and quickly read her interview before the cashier saw me and gave me that eyeballed look of: If you read it, you buy it. I most certainly did not want to buy it. Thank you very much.

As our food items began to move across the scanner, I estimated that the interview was probably somewhere in the middle of the magazine. Hurriedly, I parted the glossy pages, hoping that I would save time by miraculously landing directly on the interview before our total was tendered.

I landed on page 184. Noticing that it wasn’t the “Kate” interview I slammed the magazine shut with a disappointed huff. Shoving the Cosmo back on the rack, my brain oddly registered that I had just read the words “I” and “Had” and “Stroke.” Seeing Rich pull his wallet out of his back pocket, I reached for the magazine again and scrambled to find the same page. Why would Cosmo have an article about strokes, I thought. Desperately fanning the pages, I started to doubt myself. Maybe it had read “I had Sex” and I am just seeing “stroke” everywhere like a lunatic.

Page 184 reappeared before my eyes and read “I Had a Stroke at 21.” To the left of the header was an upper body shot of a very attractive young woman with the caption: “Savannah Hollis, two years after her stroke.” Underneath that caption was another picture of the same girl with the following caption: “Electrodes jolt Savannah’s muscles as she relearns how to talk and swallow.” I slammed the magazine shut again, but this time I threw it onto the moving belt, triumphant that my brain had gotten it right. Swiping his credit card, Rich looked out of the corner of his eye and humorously raised an eyebrow at me. “I’ll tell ya in the car, “ I whispered, before shooting a smirk at the cashier lady.

I am not going to tell you what the article said about Savannah Hollis because I am attaching it to the end of my blog for reading at leisure. But, I will tell you that you should read it even though the piece didn’t do her complete justice, in my opinion. Either Zoe Ruderman can’t write very well, her editor got chop happy, or the publisher poorly planned layout. I mean who is the genius at Cosmo that gave a 4-page spread to ‘This is What It Means…When Guys Cry’ in the Man Manual section and only a 3/4-page to a young stroke survivor’s story that could potentially save more young lives. It’s a pity. Nah, it’s just stupid.

Anyway…now that that tangent is out of the way. Savannah’s story is amazing. Her survival and recovery is incredible; inspiring. On one side I am irritated that Cosmo only printed three paragraphs of her story…a blurb if you will But, on the other hand, I am impressed that they did, in fact, publish anything at all unrelated to sex, men, sex, or…men.

Upon returning home from the store, I did the obvious and like any other stalker searched for her name on Facebook. Not surprising, I found a Savannah Hollis. Hoping that this was the Savannah Hollis, I wrote an e-mail and held my breath while hitting send.

The next day I received this response:

“Yes, this is the same Savannah... thank you so much for the encouragement! I am so glad that you are recovering well… .The article did end up being super short considering the interview lasted an hour and a half, but I am just thankful they printed it. Before mine, I had no idea someone my age could be affected, and thinking that others may be in the dark as well is horrifying! So, that is all I wanted to accomplish by agreeing to do the story, I just wish they had included more facts and symptoms so people don't have to research it all on their own. I do not know what your stroke was caused by (I will probably find out reading your story after I send this) but there is an amazing organization with a ton of information and personal experiences. I was shocked when I realized how many people are impacted by stroke. It is http://www.angiomaalliance.org/(they have actually funded a biobank for genetic testing to investigate the inheritable causes of stroke). … Thank you again, and I hope we keep in touch. It sounds like you are doing great, and I'm sure things will continue to improve!”

Since her kind response to my impulsive e-mail, Savannah and I have officially become Facebook friends and continue to correspond with each other about every other day or so. In fact, I feel the newfound, electronic friendship has helped me become a much stronger and braver person. I suspect (hope) that we’ll continue to keep in touch and share experiences, encouragements, and information (not all necessarily revolving around the journey of surviving a stroke either). Perhaps one day we’ll seriously set our sights on becoming touring motivational speakers. Hey, you never know… .

Fate has a funny way of getting your attention and steering you in a particular direction. Had I never picked up that Cosmo…. Huh, now that I am thinking about it, I never did get around to reading that Kate Hudson article… .

Read Savannah's story (Click on the link)