About The Author

Felicia S. Reeves

Felicia S. Reeves built a life around education and family before everything shifted in a single night. Born and raised in Southern Maryland, she carried the values and work ethic of her upbringing through college in South Florida, where she earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees. The sunshine state shaped a decade of her adult life, from her education through the early years of her career.

Special education teaching became more than a job. For 10 years, she worked with students requiring extra patience, creativity, and support. The role fit her personality and gave her purpose. She approached each day knowing she made a difference for kids other teachers sometimes overlooked or underestimated.

On May 20, 2012, at 2:00 AM, while twisting her hair before bed, her entire right side went numb. She was 31, married, mother of two young children, and working full time. Strokes happened to elderly people, not someone her age with a full life ahead. Her daughter, awake as usual, called for help. Days later, Felicia woke in the ICU unable to move or speak, learning she had suffered a hemorrhagic stroke caused by an arteriovenous malformation.

Nearly two months of intensive rehabilitation followed. Physical therapy pushed her body to relearn walking. Occupational therapy tackled everyday tasks suddenly impossible to perform. Speech therapy addressed communication challenges. She created her own facial therapy routine to address drooping on the right side of her face, refusing to accept limitations doctors suggested might be permanent.

Supporting her family mattered. She submitted 231 applications for federal positions before finally landing a job in 2015. That persistence paid off, proving to herself she could still work and contribute despite disability. The new career required adjustments: learning to write with her left hand, navigating crowded subways with her limp, maintaining energy through full workdays while managing ongoing physical challenges.

Thirteen years after the stroke, Felicia works as a federal civil servant, raises two adult children who remain the lights of her life, and lives with ongoing physical limitations from that night in 2012. Friends still describe her as crazy silly, and those who know her well still recognize the heart of gold that carried her through the darkest periods of recovery.