Identity: What a Stroke Couldn't Take

Some shifts don't arrive all at once. They come slowly, over days and years, asking you to let go of things you weren't ready to release. If you've ever had to reimagine who you are after something took a version of you that you loved, this episode will feel like a hand on your shoulder.

Deb Meyerson was 53, healthy, and doing meaningful work as a Stanford professor when a stroke began on a drive to Lake Tahoe. What followed wasn't a quick recovery. It was a slow reckoning with the body, the voice, the professional identity, and the quiet realization that some parts of the old life weren't coming back. Her husband Steve walked every step alongside her, navigating his own grief as a care partner while trying to hold the family together. Together, they eventually found a way to transform the loss into something that now helps thousands of stroke survivors feel less alone.

This is a conversation about the kind of grief that doesn't announce itself. The kind that shows up on your happiest days and in your proudest moments, reminding you of the distance between who you were and who you are now. It's also a conversation about what it looks like to keep creating meaning when the old map no longer works.

What You'll Hear:

• How Deb's stroke unfolded slowly over a Labor Day weekend, and what the overnight "slow fall off a cliff" felt like for both of them
• The moment three years in when Deb had to leave Stanford, and how that second loss broke something open
• What it actually means to hold multiple identities at once after trauma, and how Deb navigated the "yes and" of still being herself
• The grief cycles that don't end, including the morning after their grandson was born
• How writing a book became the most affordable therapy Deb never expected, and what led them to start Stroke Onward
• What Steve learned about being a care partner, and why that role is so rarely seen or supported

Guest Bio:

Debra Meyerson is a stroke survivor, author, and co-founder of Stroke Onward, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting stroke survivors and care partners through the emotional journey of recovery. A former tenured professor at Stanford, she wrote Identity Theft with her son and husband Steve after her own experience of rebuilding identity in the wake of a stroke and aphasia. Steve Zuckerman brings decades of experience in business, economic justice, and nonprofit leadership to his role as co-founder and care partner. Together, they work to ensure that the emotional side of stroke recovery gets the attention it deserves.

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