On Feb. 13th, 2019, Shawn Montano’s life changed forever. He suffered a stroke caused by a hole in his heart that he had no idea existed. The stroke affected the left side of his brain, leaving him with aphasia, a disorder that affects communication and comprehension. Montano’s aphasia makes it difficult to connect words with objects or symbols. Though he recognizes objects, he’s often unable to put a name to them.
After suffering from his stroke, Montano had to work on his speech and language comprehension, so he read Dr.Seuss books with his young daughter, Lyra. Early after the stroke, everyday tasks like forming sentences turned into accomplishments.
“I had to literally think the word, and then the next word, and if I got three or four words together, I was pretty happy,” Montano said.
Although the stroke brought a new set of challenges into Montano’s life, he did not let them defeat him. His speech has improved tremendously, he has continued to teach students and even received a masters degree in educational psychology.
Montano has come a long way, but says one of his long term struggles is his memory. Sometimes he can’t remember an event unless there’s a picture or a video to remind him of what it was like. Since he does not know how many memories he has lost, he encourages others to hold their valuable moments close before they are gone.
“I wish that people would value either what they learned or those special memories because when you suffer a stroke and all of a sudden memories get ripped out of your brain, it’s frightening,” he said.
