fellow stroke survivor Ray Driscoll, Katie Jerdee and Tedy Bruschi after the Boston Marathon
As a 20 year old college sophomore in 2006, Katie Jerdee was running with soccer teammates at Northeastern University when she suddenly lost control of her right arm and leg. She began to veer uncontrollably into oncoming traffic. She grabbed a street sign post to stop. “It felt like a giant magnet was pulling my right arm,” she said, adding she got a severe headache like never before. She slurred her speech when she talked. Jerdee agreed to go to the emergency roon,thinking she was probably just dehydrated.
“I had no idea what was happening,” she recalled. “I waited on a bench while the other girls ran to the field to get my coach.” Transported to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Katie heard the diagnosis of stroke.
Last August we blogged about Brian Reynolds, a bilateral amputee since the age of 4, due to meningococcemia. He grew up with a drive to constantly exceed his last accomplishment – an avid endurance hiker, mountain climber and runner and strong charity fundraiser. (
It’s been a while since we first wrote about Marsha Danzig, yoga instructor, trainer, dancer, choreographer and total inspiration. Facing personal hardships such as a below the knee amputation at age 13 due to cancer and chemotherapy-caused kidney damage and eventual transplant, yoga became her bridge to connecting her physical and spiritual self and reach out to others who need to discover and reach their potential. You can read that entire post