Don't know about you but the word stroke conjures images of older people, the elderly. My guest, speech pathologist and coach, Tsgoyna Tanzman, set me straight on that.

"The truth is two times as many women die of stroke when compared to breast cancer each year.  Again, women take the lead at 60% versus 40% of men."

And we have a greater chance of long term disability! Not because we have stronger strokes but because we wait too long to get help.

Typical woman, "I'm too busy, don't want to bother anyone, don't need to go to the hospital"...And time costs us in function or even life.

Tsgoyna has a unique blend of skills as a Speech-Language Pathologist, Master Practitioner of Neurolinguistic Programming, and a Life Coach. This means she utilizes the best practices of the most successful people on the planet.

We discussed prevention, the different types of stroke, the many professionals needed for rehab. And how life coaching was a natural next step for her skills.

Tsogyna also shared some great survivor stories. And talked about the importance of hope. There's no reason to let a well meaning doc determine what the recovery potential is.

Here is one of the elements of the B-FAST acronym for determining if someone is having a stroke.

"One of the letters, T, stands for time because the brain loses as many neurons as it does in almost three and a half years of normal aging for every hour in which treatment fails to occur."

These stats are so important to keep in mind.

After Tsgoyna spent years working with stroke patients--which she still does--she wanted to work with well people who needed support to improve their lives and the health. So began her life coaching career.

She uses the acronym WTF in a different way than you may be thinking, Words, Thoughts, Feelings which lead to actions.

Since 80% of what we do will influence our health--and our risk for having stroke--and because our thoughts can create calm or stress, this is an important concept she uses with clients.

To help those who have had a stroke or who will be caregiving for a stroke survivor, she wrote a book, "Hope After Stroke, the holistic guide to getting your life back."

You can get a sample of the workbook that accompanies the book for free here.

She has a second book titled, Just Decide Fail-Proof Strategies to Uplevel Your Life, Career, and Relationships.

She's on IG

And on LinkedIn