By Chase Buck

“Only I can change my life”

These words to my mom mean way more than what it seems to most people. When I had just turned one my mom, Kimberly Buck, lost her dad, my grandpa. Then when I was nine years old, my mom lost her husband, my dad. When I was about to start my sixth-grade year, my mom had a couple of seizures; we were having a yard sale at my aunt’s house and my mom was home alone when she had them. She called someone and said that she vomited a couple of times and I told her she needed to go to the doctor and she did not believe me and then her friend convinced her to go. She was there a couple of days and then she was released. The night she was released, she had a stroke. She was rushed back to the hospital that night. Come to find out she had an AVM in her brain. She had to have brain surgery. She had her surgery and she was in ICU for a long time and then she was finally sent to Quillin rehab where she spent a few months. She was finally sent home from there.

A little while later, she started going to a physical therapy place in Johnson City and then insurance wouldn’t pay for it anymore, so she stopped going. She is now going to some physical therapy place in Jonesborough and they have helped a lot. They have her in a brace that is built into her shoe and one she sleeps in at night. After getting out of Quillin Rehab, she started work back after two weeks and she is still working and providing all of the stuff I need. Keep up all of the work mom it will all be worth it in just a short time!

This story is part of a series of articles from Michael Grindstaff’s Language Arts Class at Elizabethton High School.

Students were asked to write about inspirational people in their lives. The Elizabethton Star is proud to share these with our readers.