So What Is My Story?

Hi! I'm in the hospital right now, so I sent a telepathic message to my brother-in-law Joshua about what I want written about me ;)

So here's my story...

I'm the second-born daughter of Phil and Crystal Garrison. They have been farmers and ranchers for most of their lives, and for most of my life, I have spent my time traveling, working, and spending time at home with my younger siblings. I've lived in Colorado, New Hampshire, Germany, but was raised in Iowa.

In fact, it was in Iowa that I met the man of my dreams...Ryan Baltensperger. He's really the first guy that I've ever even dated! We met in May, and I'm pretty sure he knew that I was 'the one' right away.

We were engaged in July of this year, and were scheduled to marry on September 8th. I never thought that I could be so happy! However, something very dramatic was about to happen...

On September 6th, I suffered an injury and ruptured my verteberal artery (it's a major artery located in the spinal column). I was life-flighted into the University of Iowa Hospital. The ruptured artery began to clot, and from that blood clot, I had 2 strokes and a seizure. That same night, I underwent an emergency operation to remove the VERY LARGE clot in my brain stem.

I came out of that surgery at 3:00 AM Friday morning. I was acting just fine, when all of the sudden, I stopped responding. My eye wouldn't respond to light, which is a pretty good indicator of someone who is brain dead. But I fooled them! They wheeled me in for an emergency CAT scan, which indicated that I still had brain activity.

Now, a mere week after nearly dying, I am still in Iowa City Hosptital, and attempting to put all the pieces back together. My fiance' Ryan has been amazing throughout this process, he really hasn't left my side this entire last week. So many people are rooting for me, and I fully intend on focusing all of my efforts on rebuilding all my abilities.

My lungs and heart have worked fine from the beginning. Now, I need to work on the motor skills, physical movement, and the process of speaking and swallowing.

So what can I do to help you? Well, to be honest, probably not a lot right now. Hopefully, my story will provide you with the inspiration that comes when we read an amazing story of 'beating the odds'.

What can you do for me? Well, to be honest, probably not a lot. In fact, there are only 2 things that I can think of:

1. Pray for me. For strength. For courage. For perseverance. I'm going to need a lot of each!

2. Send this story to someone that you care about. Someone that you trust. I'm learning that every moment is a gift. And the greatest gift I can give at this point is to help someone else realize that as well. So by passing this on, you allow my story to impact others. And it's good to know that I can impact others...even if I'm just sitting in a bed in a hospital in Iowa City.

- Rachel (as told by Josh)