在44岁中风后，人们都不指望她能再走路，更不用说教瑜伽了. She now does both.

李安·沃尔顿(LeeAnn Walton)下班后赶到纽约市的一家健身俱乐部，去上瑜伽课. 她的课程非常受欢迎，以至于每天都有人在曼哈顿及其周边地区预定她的课程.

Teaching yoga was a side job. 比起繁重的办公室工作，她更喜欢这份工作，所以她希望以此为事业.

在2月的这一天，沃尔顿开始带领大家做一系列的热身动作. As she walked around the room assisting students, she suddenly felt a snap in her head, as if someone had launched a rubber band inside it. Then came a "pop" sound in her brain.

"That's weird," she thought. But she felt fine.

A few minutes later, her right hand twisted unnaturally. Her speech began to slur. She lost her balance and tumbled onto a student, then vomited.

Walton's next memory comes from two days later. She woke up in intensive care hooked up to multiple machines. Her head hurt with a severity she'd never experienced.

"LeeAnn, you had a stroke," a doctor told her.

"What?" she said. Walton, then 44, had no idea what a stroke was.

"Can you feel where my hand is?" he said.

"It's on my right calf," she said.

"Good," he said.

虽然她能感觉到医生的手放在她的腿上，但她几乎不能移动她的右侧. 感觉就像有人在她的胳膊和腿上绑了重物.

医生解释说，她脑部的一根血管破裂，导致出血. This is known as an intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke. 她接受了紧急手术，以减轻大脑周围的压力. Doctors could find no cause for the stroke.

Outside her room, doctors discussed her case. 在她的床上，她听到其中一个说:“她可能再也不能走路或教瑜伽了."

"I'll show them," she thought.

A week later, she was sent to an acute rehab facility. By then, Walton was able to haltingly walk with support. She could not grip with her right hand. Being left-handed was a blessing. 她有几次失忆，但她的整体认知能力已经恢复.

In rehab, she did daily physical and occupational therapy. 在与治疗师合作后，沃尔顿自己做了更多的锻炼.

By the second week, she could walk down the hall with support. 她会弯下腰，把腿拉成一个高踏步的姿势，或者拖在身后. She refused any sort of walking aid.

10天后，她右侧的力量有所改善，足以让沃尔顿回家.

“你面前的路很有挑战性，”一位治疗师告诉她. "Good luck."

独自生活的沃尔顿继续接受治疗，病情慢慢好转. 不到三个月，她就重返工作岗位，保住了自己的医疗保险.

为了避免地铁上拥挤的乘客，她被允许迟到早退. Still, people bumped into her or cursed her for being too slow.

She'd come home from work and fall into bed. The sight of her yoga mat stashed under her couch made her cry.

Six months after her stroke, Walton began to get tremors in her right arm, coupled with excruciating pain. No one knew why.

注射药物减缓了震颤，但她仍然有零星的疼痛.

About a year after her stroke, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Walton was relieved to stay home. She didn't have to navigate the subway. Friends weren't pressuring her to socialize. She continued her own therapy.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Walton, who is Korean, 担心针对亚洲人的暴力和歧视增加. 她很快就搬到了长岛市，这是纽约市皇后区一个更加多元化的社区.

Last spring, her tremors returned.

She left her job to focus on her recovery. She tried holistic and alternative therapies. Her tremors and level of pain have improved significantly.

沃尔顿还完成了一项新的物理治疗计划，包括强化步态训练. She feels like her walk is close to normal again.

Her therapist urged her to try doing simple, gentle yoga moves.

"You're much stronger now," she told Walton. "Start working on your form."

Walton started practicing simple moves daily last fall. 今年1月，她开始教授基础课程，每周最多上三节课.

“我每天都因感激而哭泣，因为我从来没有想过我还能再做一次," she said.

她的密友安布尔·哈里森是一名注册护士，所以她知道沃尔顿将面临的障碍.

"But LeeAnn is a fighter," Harrison said. “虽然这改变了她生活中的一切，但我现在看着她，我觉得她100%是个奇迹."

Stories From the Heart 记录心脏病和中风幸存者、护理人员和倡导者的鼓舞人心的旅程.