How My Brain Learned to Recover After a Stroke

My experience of neuroplasticity rehabilitation antioxidants health coaching and faith

By Rosemary Chng

Written with research and editorial assistance from ChatGPT

18 September 2026

Many people find it difficult to believe that I am a stroke survivor. Because I am so well today, some assume my stroke must have been mild. It was not. I had my first stroke attack on 4 June 2024, but I thought I was suffering from severe food poisoning because I had intense nausea, vomiting and dizzy spells. I did not yet know that I had suffered serious and potentially life-threatening ischemic strokes on both sides of my cerebellum, close to the brainstem and medulla.

For almost a week, the world seemed to spin continuously. I became immensely weak and experienced a frightening sense that my body and mind were disjointed. I feared that I might not walk normally again. Two years later, I travelled to Switzerland and stood before the Matterhorn. This is not a story of one miracle treatment. It is the story of how medical care, neuroplasticity, purposeful rehabilitation, knowledge, long-term health habits and faith came together in my recovery.

What happened inside my brain

An ischemic stroke happens when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked. Without enough oxygen and nutrients, brain cells become injured and may die. My MRI on 14 June 2024 showed bilateral cerebellar ischemic strokes—meaning that both sides of my cerebellum had been affected. I remained in hospital for 18 days.

The cerebellum helps the body maintain balance, coordinate movement, control the timing and accuracy of movement, and stabilise the eyes. It also communicates with areas involved in thinking and emotion.[3,4] This helps explain the relentless spinning, nausea, weakness, poor coordination, mental disjointedness and depression I experienced. Because the cerebellum lies directly behind the brainstem, injury and swelling in this small, crowded area can be especially serious.[3]

What neuroplasticity means

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change, adapt and learn. I imagine the brain as a vast network of roads. A stroke may damage some routes, but surviving parts of the brain can strengthen existing connections and learn different ways to carry out a task. Repeated, meaningful activity helps show the brain which pathways are needed.[1,2]

This does not mean every damaged cell grows back, nor does it guarantee full recovery. But it means the brain is not simply fixed after injury. Recovery may continue for months and years, even though the earliest period can be especially responsive to rehabilitation.[5-7]

The physiotherapist’s words that stayed with me

While I was in hospital, a physiotherapist told me that I needed to start working towards normal movement and normal thinking as soon as it was safe. Otherwise, those abilities could become harder to regain in the long run. Her words affirmed what I already believed about biology: the body responds to what we repeatedly ask it to do.

I was profoundly weak, exhausted, nauseated, disjointed and depressed, but I did the exercises. I practised standing, balancing, walking and ordinary movements. Each attempt was more than exercise; it was a message to my brain and body that these abilities were still needed. Research on neuroplasticity supports this kind of meaningful, task-specific repetition.[5,6]

I did not treat recovery as a contest in which I had to push until I collapsed. The pace had to be safe and guided by my rehabilitation team. My task was to keep showing up, practise what I could and try again the next day.

I became my own best student

My training with Duke Integrative Medicine to become a health coach proved invaluable. It had taught me to look at the whole person: movement, nutrition, sleep, emotions, purpose, relationships, environment and the small choices made each day. When I became the patient, I had to apply that knowledge to myself. I became my own best student.

I set small goals, noticed every improvement and kept my attention on what I could do next. Understanding neuroplasticity gave purpose to the repetition. Knowledge did not replace my doctors or physiotherapists, but it helped me participate actively in my own recovery. Knowledge is king—but only when we put it into action.

The antioxidant foundation I had built before my stroke

Since 2007, I had made network antioxidants part of my daily health routine, and I continued taking them through my stroke and recovery. I believe this long-standing habit helped protect my brain cells from some of the oxidative damage surrounding the stroke and supported my recovery.

My thinking was influenced by the work of Dr Lester Packer. He described antioxidants not as isolated substances, but as an interacting network. Vitamin C, vitamin E, alpha-lipoic acid, coenzyme Q10 and the body’s own glutathione can help support or regenerate one another. In particular, Packer’s research described alpha-lipoic acid as able to recycle other antioxidants and raise intracellular glutathione.[8,9] He spoke about maintaining an antioxidant advantage—having antioxidant defences available before the body faces a major stress.

This mattered to me because an ischemic stroke creates more than an interruption of blood flow. When circulation is restored, a surge of reactive oxygen species can contribute to further cellular injury, a process known as ischemia-reperfusion injury.[10] That makes the idea of entering a crisis with stronger antioxidant defences biologically plausible.

However, I want to be precise. My experience cannot prove that supplements prevented brain damage or caused my recovery. Clinical evidence has not established that taking an antioxidant formula before a stroke will produce the same outcome in another person. My belief is that the antioxidant foundation I had maintained for many years may have improved my cellular resilience. It was one contributing factor alongside emergency care, rehabilitation, movement, nutrition, determination and faith—not a replacement for any of them.

Faith kept me moving when fear could have stopped me

My medical records show the seriousness of what happened. Science helps me understand the injury, and neuroplasticity helps explain how recovery can occur. But in my heart, I believe God saved me and carried me through it.

Faith did not mean sitting back and waiting. It gave me courage to do the work when I was afraid, exhausted or discouraged. I saw the medical team, my physiotherapist’s words, my earlier education and every small opportunity to practise as part of God’s provision. I prayed, worked and trusted that my life still had purpose.

This is my testimony, not a judgment on anyone else. People who live with lasting disability have not failed, and they do not lack faith. Every stroke and every recovery are different. Faith did not guarantee my outcome; it gave me the strength to keep going through uncertainty.

From one step to the Matterhorn

My recovery began with the first steps I took with my physiotherapist. Later, I celebrated walking independently. By May and June 2026, I was sometimes walking about 10,000 steps a day while travelling in Europe. Today, I usually aim for around 5,000 steps a day.

The photograph of me standing before the Matterhorn captures more than a holiday. It represents the distance between the woman who feared she might not walk again and the woman who reached that mountain two years later. People may not see the stroke when they look at me today, but I remember every uncertain step that brought me there.

What I learned

The brain can learn after injury, and what we repeatedly practise matters. Recovery also depends on far more than exercise alone. In my case, medical care kept me alive; rehabilitation helped my brain and body relearn; my Duke training helped me become an active participant; my long-term antioxidant routine may have supported cellular resilience; and faith gave me the courage to persevere.

From one uncertain step to the Matterhorn, my recovery has taught me never to underestimate the brain, the value of knowledge, the effect of consistent action or the strength that comes from trusting God.

A hopeful word for anyone facing stroke

To anyone who has just experienced a stroke—or who is watching someone they love go through one—I want you to know that all is not lost. The path will be different for every person, and healing may not mean returning to exactly who we were before. But the brain has a remarkable capacity to adapt, relearn and form new pathways. Progress may begin with the smallest movement, word or thought, yet every effort can become part of recovery.

I hope this article helps others understand neuroplasticity and approach recovery with knowledge, patience and hope. Work with your medical and rehabilitation team, keep practising what is safe, recognise every small gain and do not give up on what may still be possible. With support, consistent effort and faith, we can continue moving towards healing. If my journey from one uncertain step to the Matterhorn encourages even one person to keep going, sharing it has been worthwhile.

A note for readers

This is my personal experience, not medical advice. Stroke symptoms require emergency assessment. Rehabilitation should be individualised and guided by qualified professionals. Supplements are not treatments for an acute stroke and can interact with medicines, including blood thinners and medicines for blood pressure or diabetes; discuss them with a doctor or pharmacist who knows your medical history.

Sources and further reading

1. Murphy TH, Corbett D. Plasticity during stroke recovery from synapse to behaviour. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2009;10:861-872. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2735

2. Cramer SC, Sur M, Dobkin BH, et al. Harnessing neuroplasticity for clinical applications. Brain. 2011;134:1591-1609. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awr039

3. Edlow JA, Newman-Toker DE, Savitz SI. Diagnosis and initial management of cerebellar infarction. The Lancet Neurology. 2008;7:951-964. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(08)70216-3

4. Schmahmann JD, Sherman JC. The cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome. Brain. 1998;121:561-579. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/121.4.561

5. Kleim JA, Jones TA. Principles of experience-dependent neural plasticity. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research. 2008;51:S225-S239. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2008/018)

6. Winstein CJ, Stein J, Arena R, et al. Guidelines for Adult Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery. Stroke. 2016;47:e98-e169. https://doi.org/10.1161/STR.0000000000000098

7. Dromerick AW, Geed S, Barth J, et al. Critical Period After Stroke Study. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2021;118:e2026676118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2026676118

8. Packer L, Witt EH, Tritschler HJ. Alpha-lipoic acid as a biological antioxidant. Free Radical Biology and Medicine. 1995;19:227-250. https://doi.org/10.1016/0891-5849(95)00017-R

9. Packer L. Neuroprotection by the metabolic antioxidant alpha-lipoic acid. Free Radical Biology and Medicine. 1997;22:359-378. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0891-5849(96)00269-9

10. Jurcau A, Ardelean AI. Oxidative stress in ischemia reperfusion injuries following acute ischemic stroke. Biomedicines. 2022;10:574. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines10030574