1 minute read
HEROESSurvivors
Who: Jackie Stebbins
What: JM Stebbins www.jmstebbins.com
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Why: Jackie Stebbins is a survivor of autoimmune encephalitis, one of the rarest brain diseases in the world. Most affected do not even realize this is what is causing their symptoms. “I actually thought that I was burnt out from being a trial lawyer,” describes Jackie. But as her symptoms progressed, it became clear something else was wrong. “I went into cognitive failure. I had no memory. Physically, I declined until I couldn’t walk by myself. Then, I began having seizures until the last one landed me in the hospital,” describes Jackie. She was officially diagnosed in May of 2018 which is when the hard road to recovery began.
Because it’s such a rare disease, the recovery process for autoimmune encephalitis has more questions than answers. “Mayo Clinic told me they thought I would make a full recovery, but they had no idea how much time, so you kind of feel like you’ve been handed the worst thing that could ever happen to you in life, and it’s just like good luck,” remembers Jackie. However, Jackie looks on the positive side of such a challenging process. “I was so lucky. Honestly, I think the way I recovered was a miracle,” she says. The first mode of attack, steroids, was enough to put the disease into remission. “I’ve never met another survivor who only needed steroids,” Jackie says.
After recovery and losing her hard-won career in law, Jackie had to make a decision. “I could have just been bitter and said this wasn’t even my fault, why was this all taken away from me. Why did my kids have to watch me lose my mind? But I only have one life to live, so why live this really horrible dark life? Instead, I made the conscious choice to be like here are my brain lemons, I’m going to try and turn them into brain lemonade,” quips Jackie.
Jackie decided to resurrect her old high school dream of being a motivational speaker. She has also written a book, Unwillable: A Journey to Recover My Brain, and organizes the annual Bismarck Brain Walk. Through her work, Jackie hopes to bring awareness to this disease, potentially saving someone else’s life, turning lemons into lemonade.
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