Stroke survivor completes marathon

It was June 2016 when Aubrey Ness suddenly and inexplicably lost control of her right arm. She was struggling to speak. Doctors at an Indiana emergency room discovered a blood clot in her brain and summoned a helicopter to fly the 30-year-old to the University of Chicago Medicine’s Comprehensive Stroke Center. She spent ten days in the medical center’s neurosciences intensive care unit, where doctors provide specialized treatment to patients with catastrophic brain injuries and critical neurological conditions.

Aubrey, who had been training for a marathon, resolved to continue her plan to run the race. With the clearance of her physicians, and the support of her friends and family, she learned to walk — and run — again, crossing the marathon’s finish line just four months later. The stroke may have slowed Aubrey down, but thanks to the team at the University of Chicago Medicine, it never stopped her from moving forward.