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373. PROOF you can continue to RECOVER decades after stroke | Terry Gilstad

Recovery After Stroke

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When Terry Gilstead was 37 and six months pregnant, she thought she was just dealing with another migraine. Instead, it was the start of a stroke that left her paralyzed on her right side and unable to speak.

In this episode, Terry opens up about:
Facing stroke while expecting a baby
The terrifying near-death experience she had in ICU
Returning to teaching only 8 months later with aphasia
Why recovery didn’t stop at one year, five years, or even thirty years
How she found patience, resilience, and a new voice through adversity

Her story is proof that after stroke recovery never really ends. There’s always room for hope, progress, and surprising strength.

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#strokerecovery #LifeAfterStroke #StrokeSurvivor

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Inspiring stories and practical tools for stroke recovery:
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Free resources, blog posts, and more:
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20 Comments

@katherinebryden-wolke8210 5 months ago

I wish you could address the depression after a stroke. More.

Would be a really good story

@agohio8366 3 weeks ago

Thank you
🙏

@DK-Pratibha 2 months ago

Amazing woman - thank you I needed that😘

@garyjohnson907 1 month ago

I stumbled across your Chanel and I must say what a great inspiration your interviews have helped me so much. I had a stroke four years ago that effected my eyesight I live in a small rural town in Aotearoa New Zealand and sometimes its very difficult to get the advice that I so desperately needed. Thank you very much your Chanel has filled me with so much hope it's teaching me to never give up

@MarkSilver-d9b 1 year ago

Thanks Bill and Terry Hearing someones story about coming out of that deep dark depression is inspiring I relate to doing things that others say you are unable to do very motivating Terry is an example that recovery never ends

@katherinebryden-wolke8210 5 months ago

Thank you for talking about your journey. I had a stroke in January of 2026. It wasn't a very severe stroke. But I do find that I struggle with depression and that is not making me happy. Sometimes the thoughts turn dark.
My frustration level is not what it used to be. I get frustrated super easy.

@survivalwhilehappy 9 months ago

Encouraging woman. I had a stroke at 37 in may of 2025. Thank you for this channel

@mrh0wler353 5 months ago

35:00 'scream at the top of my lungs to strengthen them'. !!! This guest on your show is now one of my heroes. I was an unsung endurance athlete; decades of motion for hours, almost daily. Now I don't ride 1/2 mile on my bike and I'm gasping, sort of. It's like I hit a limit, and any more exertion and it will cause me to stop moving muscles, and just breathe. I still wonder if my lungs had collapsed during surgery. I still bike, about half the distance, and less than half the speed. Great interview guest, Thanks Bill.

@richardblake2114 1 year ago

Hi Bill another great interview. My mother lived in Royal Palm Beach Florida. Then my brother bought a house in Wellington Florida which is about a 20 minute ride and my mother stays in the beach house she is ninety. My brother is a neurosurgeon he advocated for me when I had my hemorrhagic stroke. So this is a fallen world we live in . God didn't give her the stroke but he will allow things to happen for his glory. Satan has dominion on this earth.Just look around Bill there is alot of hatred out there. I can understand why she said she's not afraid to die. Being a Christian this is not our world we are just in it. I always thought is this it go to work pay bills and hang out on weekends until you retire then die. No you have a greater purpose bring people who don't have a relationship with God to believe. The end game is when your time comes and your face to face with your creator you want to hear good job and he lets you enter heaven.

@faisalahmad3309 1 year ago

Thank you

@faisalahmad3309 1 year ago

W great lady she is

@Dr.semore 9 months ago

Thanks for sharing your journey Terry!
That calmness is undescribeable, you have to have felt it to relate, to me, it was such an overpowering peace tha was just there, looking back to November29th and 30th, 2024. Thanks Bill for presenting this.
Truly grateful for all that you do.

@MarkSilver-d9b 1 year ago

Thanks!

@DK-Pratibha 2 months ago

Tak!

@christineploeg1992 2 months ago

I’d love to hear if she had to deal with the fatigue

@MiguelMcdougal 4 months ago

GOD is king

@holdem5180 1 year ago

ty Bill for anawering you motivate me because you said you were in a chair and now you walk normal that is great ty

@MarieC222 1 year ago

I would love to know Terry's aphasia story, i.e. how long it took her to be able to speak like she is now speaking. Wish she would have touched on that important aspect of her journey. My son had a stroke at age 37. It is now 2 yrs later and he still struggles with aphasia and apraxia.

@nannettehale5236 11 months ago

Let her talk

@rir78 5 months ago

No, there is one God...He is the same everywhere.. , to everyone..
You cant make Him what you want in your own mind...He is just as He is..Don't create God the way you want! He is sovereign! He knows what is going on at all times with everyone, everything...what the devil means for evil, our God turns to good...God is great!