MV was one of the most enthusiastic people I have ever met. It is not often that you come across people who are oozing with life and their presence and positive energy reverberate effervescently in an otherwise dull and unremarkable space. I feel fortunate to have come across two such people in my life thus far. Though struck by misfortune from a very young age, she always found ways of standing back up and facing whatever might be thrown at her. Ironically, towards the end, standing up became a mechanical issue rather than a motivational one. She had a fall and fractured her hip. MV slowly slipped into depression and died a few months later from a stroke.

It was believed that when the Gods were upset with someone they would often strike him/her down; the stroke of God’s Hand. Whether that was with a thunderbolt, or a barrage of misfortunes, a stroke was believed to be the calculated aftermath of aggravated fury at a divine level .

There are two major types of stroke. The commonest one is called ischaemic stroke. It is usually caused by a clot or a collection of cell debris, blocking off the blood supply in a territory of the brain. That part of the brain is starved of blood (and oxygen) and will eventually stop working. If the patient survives the stroke, then in the following few months the brain will try to remodel the remaining nerve endings in an attempt to recover lost function. It is very rarely that we see a dramatic recovery from a major stroke (large area of the brain being affected). The other type of stroke is called haemorrhagic and occurs classically when a blood vessel breaks down and bleeding inside the brain ensues.

The power of the brain is demonstrated on so many levels; whether it controls the way we move and speak to how we perceive emotions and process memories. In a remarkable array of nerve connections, the brain can transform pulses of electricity into experiences and vice versa.

When MV was feeling depressed, she was not simply sad or marasmic. She was in a state of uninspired existence. When she wasn’t eating, her body was telling us that she wasn’t interested in any nourishment. When she wasn’t sleeping, her mind was telling us that there wasn’t any reason to dream. And when she only spoke sparsely, her mouth was conveying a far bigger message than the weight of her words. Eventually, when she was “struck” we all understood. When her body ceased to move and her spirit stopped being, the answer became clear. She had left
the lights on but left the home months ago…

M