Five years ago, Brianne Rico was preparing for the bar exam when she collapsed on the floor. She couldn’t make out any of the words she was reading. They looked like jumbled letters, she said.
Four days before the bar exam, at age 27, Brianne suffered a massive stroke that paralyzed the left side of her body. While Brianne was in the hospital, a doctor said she would never walk again. Brianne remembers her mom whispering in her ear repeatedly, “You will walk again. You will walk again.”
After three months in the hospital, Brianne spent four to six hours daily for five months in intensive rehabilitation to regain her mobility. She started with a few steps, later walking with a leg brace and a cane. “Once I started, I couldn’t stop trying. One day I just decided to throw out the cane, get rid of the brace and walk,” she said.
Over the past five years, Brianne has been working hard to get her life back on track and she credits her family for her recovery and for helping her through this difficult period in her life. “It takes a village, and I couldn’t have done it without my mom Kathy, dad Jerry and sisters Ashley and Destiny who were with me every step of the way,” Brianne said. “My support system has since gotten bigger with the addition of my nephews Carson and Phoenix and my loving boyfriend Vincent who cheers me on every day.”
Brianne has regained her full ability to walk and is looking forward to participating in the Los Angeles Heart & Stroke Walk with her loved ones to bring attention to stroke and raise funds in support of the American Heart Association’s mission to save lives from cardiovascular disease.
She is studying for the bar exam, which she missed because of the stroke. Her goal is to practice law one day soon. “My message to those who are going through a tough time like I have is to remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel. It may take a while to get there, but it’s there,” she said.
The Heart & Stroke Walk takes place on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Sponsored by UCLA Health, Keck Medicine of USC and Dignity Health, the event includes a one mile walk around the concourse, health screenings, kids zone, live music, a gathering place for heart disease and stroke survivors and more. People can register to join at HeartWalkLA.org.
