26 Jan Welcome to the Identity Theft blog!

Thanks for visiting this new blog. We’re excited to launch this online community, where I hope to create conversations that can help stroke survivors (and others who suffered different debilitating events) succeed in their journeys back to health.  Specifically, on my own journey, I found lots of resources about the physical recovery, but little that helped me manage my emotional journey — especially my struggle to understand and recreate my new identities.

Once I was medically stable, and even more so when I realized I may never regain all my previous abilities, I started to wonder:

Who am I now?

What matters most?

How do I fit in?

Where do I go from here?     

…and lots more    

Identity Theft is a book I am writing with the help of Sally Collings. We hope that it will help stroke survivors find answers to some of these very personal questions­— and many more — and help those around them understand how to better support that process. Identity Theft will center on my experience: my stroke, efforts to recover, and my journey to redefine myself. But I’ve also drawn on my background as a social scientist and we’ve interviewed dozens of fellow survivors­, as well as family members, friends, colleagues, therapists and doctors.  I have learned that every stroke, every recovery, every survivor and every support network is different — I want the book to draw on that difference so those who follow on this journey can better understand the range of possibilities and strategies for a successful recovery — and even more, a successful and productive life after a debilitating stroke.

 Debra Meyerson and Sally Collings working on Identity Theft

In the weeks and months ahead I will be adding blog posts on different topics that are important to me and will be addressed in the book.  I hope that each will begin a conversation here in this blog that will be helpful to many.  If you have a topic that you think might start a good conversation, please do email me and we might create a “guest post” to make that happen.  And if you want to share your stories with us, both to help our writing or possibly to post on the site, please go to the Share Stories section of the site.

Thank you in advance for becoming part of our community.  Please share this site with anyone you think might be interested in doing so as well. And if you are a survivor — keep working and keep your chin up.  We all have a lot to contribute, whatever our challenges.  Happy New Year to all.  Best,

Debra