Basilar Artery Stroke: How Daniel Found Strength, Faith, and Recovery After Collapse

Basilar Artery Stroke: The Warning Signs Daniel Didn’t See Coming

When people think of a stroke, they often imagine the classic symptoms — facial drooping, slurred speech, or one-sided weakness. But the basilar artery, which feeds the brainstem and cerebellum, behaves differently. When it blocks, symptoms can be subtle at first, then escalate with terrifying speed.

That’s what happened to 28-year-old triathlete Daniel Coggins, who went from finishing a morning run to collapsing on the bathroom floor within minutes. His story highlights the symptoms many people miss, the dangerous delays that can happen in emergency care, and the critical signs every family needs to know.

What Is a Basilar Artery Stroke?

The basilar artery is one of the most vital arteries in the brain. It supplies blood to areas responsible for coordination, balance, vision, swallowing, and consciousness.

When this artery becomes blocked — called a basilar artery occlusion — the results can be catastrophic. It’s one of the deadliest, most time-critical forms of stroke.

Common symptoms of basilar artery occlusion can include:

• Sudden dizziness or vertigo
• Severe imbalance
• Double vision or blurred vision
• Sudden headache
• Slurred speech
• Sudden collapse
• Limb shaking or full-body thrashing
• Loss of consciousness
• Difficulty swallowing
• Nausea and vomiting

Daniel experienced several of these in rapid succession — and like many young, fit people, he had no idea they pointed to one of the most serious neurological emergencies.

The Morning Everything Changed

Daniel’s day started the same way many active people begin theirs: a run with his wife. They jogged four miles, felt good, and returned home.

Then everything shifted.

After his shower, Daniel suddenly felt the room spin violently. He sat down on the toilet, trying to regain balance — but within moments, his body began thrashing uncontrollably. All four limbs were seizing, yet he remained conscious enough to call his wife for help.

Within minutes:

• He could no longer hold himself upright.
• He lost all strength.
• His speech began to deteriorate.
• His body became a “dead weight.”

These symptoms are classic for vertebrobasilar stroke, but because they can mimic dehydration, vertigo, heat stroke, or even a seizure, many survivors — and medical staff — don’t immediately recognise what’s happening.

The Danger of Misdiagnosis

Even when paramedics arrived, they suspected dehydration or heat exhaustion.

At the hospital, Daniel sat in the waiting room — actively deteriorating — because his symptoms didn’t fit the stereotypical stroke picture.

This is far more common than people realise.

Basilar artery strokes can be missed because:

• They often don’t involve one-sided weakness.
• They may begin with dizziness, which is easy to dismiss.
• Motor activity (like thrashing) can look like a seizure.
• Young, healthy people are often assumed to be “low risk.”

But as Daniel’s story shows, healthy, athletic people can and do experience severe strokes.

When the Stroke Was Finally Identified

Once he was finally assessed, everything changed.

Scans revealed a large clot in the basilar artery. Without immediate intervention, this type of stroke can lead to brainstem compression, coma, or death.

Doctors acted fast:

• They performed an emergency clot retrieval.
• Hours later, they noticed severe swelling in his brain.
• A nurse practitioner pushed for an earlier scan — a decision that saved Daniel’s life.
• He was rushed for an emergency craniotomy, removing part of his skull to relieve pressure.

The entire left cerebellum had been damaged beyond recovery.

Daniel was placed in intensive care for two weeks, and his memory of the early days disappears almost entirely, a typical experience after severe cerebellar injury.

Basilar Artery Occlusion Symptoms: Why They’re Often Misunderstood

Daniel’s case highlights a critical problem:

Many people don’t know the early signs of a vertebrobasilar stroke.

Typical early symptoms include:

1. Sudden vertigo or dizziness

A major red flag, especially when paired with nausea or imbalance.

2. Loss of coordination

Because the cerebellum is involved, clumsiness, staggering, or sudden unsteadiness often appear early.

3. Irregular limb movements

Thrashing, shaking, or seizure-like activity is more common than most realise.

4. Loss of strength or collapse

This can happen without warning.

5. Sudden slurred speech

Even without facial droop.

6. Difficulty staying conscious or alert

Changes in awareness should be treated as an emergency.

If someone experiences even one of these symptoms suddenly, especially after exertion or illness, it’s time to call emergency services immediately.

Life After a Basilar Artery Stroke

Daniel entered rehab with significant deficits:

• He couldn’t swallow.
• He couldn’t walk or stand.
• His speech was severely slurred.
• His left hand and arm lost fine motor function.
• His emotions were hard to regulate due to cerebellar damage.

Yet he kept going.

Months later, he returned to hiking — even completing a 2,000-ft elevation trail. He completed a triathlon relay, swimming the opening segment. He returned to work and leadership roles within his community.

The cerebellum’s plasticity is remarkable, and Daniel is living proof of how far survivors can come — even when early scans look devastating.

Why Awareness Matters

Basilar artery strokes are rare but extremely dangerous.
Early recognition is everything.

Daniel’s story is more than a medical case — it’s a reminder that:

• Not all strokes look the same.
• Young, fit people are not immune.
• Dizziness + collapse is a stroke until proven otherwise.
• Advocacy from nurses, partners, and family saves lives.
• Recovery is possible, even after severe cerebellar damage.

And for anyone experiencing the uncertainty and fear of early recovery: your story isn’t over.

“Basilar artery strokes don’t always look like strokes.
But when they’re missed, the consequences can be devastating.”

Daniel’s experience shows why early symptoms like dizziness, collapse, or limb thrashing must be taken seriously. Every survivor who learns the signs helps protect someone else.

And every story shared helps another survivor feel less alone.

Disclaimer (Footer Required)

This blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult your doctor before making any changes to your health or recovery plan.

From Collapse to Craniotomy: Daniel Coggins’ Basilar Artery Stroke Story

Daniel’s basilar artery stroke changed everything, yet what he discovered about faith, healing, and resilience may surprise you.

Support The Recovery After Stroke Podcast on Patreon

Highlights:

00:00 Introduction and Background
04:05 The Day of the Basilar Artery Stroke
10:31 Emergency Response and Hospitalization
14:18 The Impact of the Stroke
22:08 Learning to Accept Help
27:40 Personal Growth and Reflection
38:02 Finding Peace Amidst Chaos
43:12 Navigating Emotional Challenges Post-Stroke
51:31 Finding Purpose in Pain
56:40 Heightened Emotional Sensitivity as a Gift
01:02:01 Sharing Stories and Raising Awareness
01:12:53 Life After Stroke: Embracing New Beginnings
01:15:52 Advice for Stroke Survivors
01:20:03 The Dichotomy of Support and Loneliness
01:25:36 Celebrating Progress and Achievements

Transcript:

Introduction and Background

Bill Gasiamis (00:00)
Hey, it’s Bill. Before we dive in, I wanna say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who supports the show on Patreon. After more than 10 years of producing, editing, recording, your support genuinely helps me keep this going for the survivors who need hope the most. A huge thanks to everyone leaving comments on YouTube, listening on Spotify or Apple, and to those of you who picked up my book, The Unexpected Way That a Stroke Became the Best Thing That Happened. Every review, every share.

every message it all helps more survivors discover this podcast. Today’s episode is a powerful one. Daniel Coggins was 28 feet healthy and fresh off a morning run when the room suddenly spun. His limbs began thrashing and his body dropped. What followed was a basilar artery stroke. One of the most catastrophic types there is. His wife, his faith and early decision from a nurse practitioner

quite literally saved his life. If you’ve ever had symptoms that no one took seriously or felt like your stroke didn’t look like a stroke, this episode will really speak to you. Let’s get into it. Daniel Coggins, welcome to the podcast.

Daniel Coggins (01:13)
Thanks so much, Bill. It’s great to be with you.

Bill Gasiamis (01:15)
What

was a normal day like for you before stroke?

Daniel Coggins (01:19)
Yeah, so before I had my stroke, I had my stroke in July of 2023 and I was 28 years old at the time. And before my stroke, I was a pretty active individual. My wife and I, we enjoyed kind of long distance fitness activities. So we would, we had done a couple triathlons about three to four months before my stroke. had done half marathon running. ⁓

Yes, we really enjoyed fitness activities. We were big hikers. ⁓ These are all kind of free time activities. And then, you know, I had a job, so I worked prior to the stroke. But yeah, average day was, you know, somewhat active for the most part, at least on a weekly basis. And those were some of the activities that we did.

Bill Gasiamis (02:12)
Sounds like that was a bit of the passion, you guys walking triathlons, climbing probably ⁓ all sorts of things by the sound of it.

Daniel Coggins (02:21)
But yeah, we’ve always enjoyed those. We enjoy going to the national parks and hiking trips. That’s generally how we kind of fashion and organize vacations that we’ve taken over the years. ⁓ So that’s always been one of our favorite things to do.

Bill Gasiamis (02:37)
What did you believe about your health back then?

Daniel Coggins (02:40)
You know, if you’d asked me, I would have thought I’m pretty healthy, 28 years old. You know, I wouldn’t say I was like a health nut, if you will, but I was healthy for all intents and purposes and felt like I was doing the right things, you know, eating pretty right, pretty right. And exercise, taking care of myself the best that I could. So yeah, I would have said that I felt like my health was good.

Bill Gasiamis (03:06)
Yeah. Were there any signs that there was kind of anything wrong? You know, some people I’ve got this, I haven’t dealt with, or, uh, I have to, should go to the doctor for that, or I haven’t been to the doctor for that. Was it anything like that on

Daniel Coggins (03:21)
No, for me, for me, there was, there was just about, this was about as freak of a event that I think you could, you could have to an extent. ⁓ now very, very perhaps unrelated. I did have migraines, but those were seldom, right? Those were not debilitating. They were often, I would have, ⁓ migraines every couple months. You know, they’d kind of make me have to rest, lay down. ⁓

get out of the light for a little bit, but then pretty quickly I would be able to get right on past it. And it was not something that was recurring on a super regular basis for me.

Bill Gasiamis (04:02)
Hmm.

Daniel Coggins (04:03)
But yeah, that pretty out of blue.

The Day of the Basilar Artery Stroke

Bill Gasiamis (04:05)
What was the first sign that something wasn’t right?

Daniel Coggins (04:08)
Yeah. So I’ll kind of walk you through the story. I actually have a really good memory of that first day. but, uh, so my wife and I, we, it was a July morning. So where I live here in North Carolina and the U S it’s, you know, hot and humid that time of year. And, um, and we’d been out on a job that morning. We’d gone and ran like four miles before work together. And that was pretty usual. That was standard for us. You know, that was an average.

good jog, good exercise, but nothing abnormal. So we did that run, that felt good. Got back to the house and I was preparing to leave for work. So I had showered ⁓ and then I’d gotten out of the shower, gotten dressed and I was about to brush my teeth, eat some breakfast and hit the road. And my wife had just gotten in the shower. And I’m in the bathroom.

about to brush my teeth and then just out of nowhere, the stroke hits and it was a feeling unlike anything I’d ever felt. You know, I had to sit down on the toilet just to kind of gather myself. The room was spinning uncontrollably. I had no idea what was going on. After a minute or so, then all four of my limbs started uncontrollably shaking and seizing up.

By this point, I was still able to communicate. I was kind of like, my wife is in the same bathroom taking a shower. I, Hey, you know, call out to her, have her get out. She’s dripping wet. She comes over and tries to kind of, um, just see what’s going on. And all four limbs are like thrashing about uncontrollably, but I’m still able to talk and communicate. And then after that occurred, then.

I lost, I lost just about all, ⁓ all strength in my body. So then I kind of slumped to the floor, my wife trying to make sure that I was in a better position. If I began seizing up again, she pulls me out of the bathroom because I can’t help myself at all at this point. And she drags me into the bedroom. She’s wanting to get me up onto the bed, but I’m too heavy and too unable to help for her to do that. So she pulls me into the, into the bedroom.

and I’m laying there and she’s obviously very concerned. ⁓ and then paramedics come out at first, they think it’s just really severe heat stroke or dehydration. ⁓ but it was clearly not that, ⁓ but, yeah, was, it was quite, quite jarring, quite, quite jarring several minutes. ⁓

and honestly crazy that I can still even like recollect and remember some of those first moments.

Bill Gasiamis (07:13)
What went through your mind as things began to escalate?

Daniel Coggins (07:16)
You know, I didn’t even have that many thoughts, honestly, in the moment, because it was just, I was starting to lose my mind. But I think I knew it was very serious. think I knew, I don’t know what this is or what’s happening, but this is clearly not just like a, you know, I feel a little faint or I’m a little dehydrated. I need some fluids. I need some electrolytes, that kind of thing.

I think I could tell pretty quickly something more is going on here for me.

Bill Gasiamis (07:49)
Often when I speak to stroke survivors who have strange things happen to them will tell somebody about it their partner or whoever’s nearby and the person will go ⁓ Stop playing around stop messing about Why are you doing that for? Your wife was she at all suspicious at the beginning did she think maybe you’re just playing a trick on her or did she just completely move into? support a help mode

Daniel Coggins (08:20)
No, she pretty quickly moved right into the kind of the help mode. I think she heard the tone of my voice when I was calling out for help. And I think she just knew like, he’s not messing around. Like this is clearly something pretty serious. And then when my leg started seizing up uncontrollably, then by that point she definitely was, hey, something’s happening, something’s going on.

Bill Gasiamis (08:47)
dragging you from your arms, from your legs, how far does she have to drag you to get you somewhere out of the bathroom?

Daniel Coggins (08:54)
Yeah, to get out of the bathroom, she dragged me, not, she got as far as she could. Um, we have a pretty small house. like it was maybe 10, 15 feet max. Um, but that was about as far as she could do to get me out since I was unable to do anything. And then even the paramedics, when they come up, they came, they were even like, Hey, can you help? They were talking to me and asking me to like help when they were trying to get me up and get me on the gurney. And, um, my wife was like,

He cannot do anything. Like he has no, he has no strength. Like he cannot help you or bear any of his own weight at this point. Like you’re going to have to fully lift him up.

Bill Gasiamis (09:36)
Well, they’re dealing with a dead weight.

Daniel Coggins (09:38)
Basically,

Bill Gasiamis (09:40)
Yeah. Is there something, are you doing the whole, this can’t be happening? What’s going on? Are you thinking any of those types of things? How do you take it when these people turn up? a dead weight and you have no ability to, ⁓ what’s the word like to support them in their requests or to provide them what they need with their request.

Daniel Coggins (10:06)
Yeah, mean, I was just, totally, my mind was just like, wow, I, I’m, something’s going very wrong and I need help quickly ⁓ because clearly I cannot do anything to like support myself or help myself right now. So yeah, I could tell something was quite severe when it would, as it was happening and as it was playing out.

Emergency Response and Hospitalization

Bill Gasiamis (10:31)
Mm-hmm. Are you generally a cool, and collected kind of guy?

Daniel Coggins (10:36)
Yeah, yeah, I’m generally, yeah, for sure. You know, think perhaps externally, but then, but then in my mind, I was not, but then, but then over the course of the next couple hours, as they got me to the hospital and then I was admitted and then they coded me for stroke, they then pretty quickly, then pretty quickly from there, like I just kept losing more and more memory and ability to cognitively like stay engaged.

Bill Gasiamis (10:39)
Did you remain cool, calm and collected?

Daniel Coggins (11:05)
in the situation. ⁓ So. ⁓

Bill Gasiamis (11:10)
So it started to escalate. The deficit started to kind of creep in after you were at the hospital.

Daniel Coggins (11:16)
Yeah, yeah, so I got to the hospital and this part was actually kind of crazy. So they admitted me into the emergency room waiting area. I had been taken to the hospital in the ambulance and my wife had driven actually behind us in our vehicle because they told her, hey, I think he just needs fluids. I think we just need to, ⁓ you know, give him some electrolytes and he’s going to be all good. ⁓

So they said, Hey, I think you’re going to go home in a couple hours. So you might want to drive behind us. So have a vehicle. So she did that. They got to the waiting room and they did not admit me immediately because they didn’t know what it was. And they didn’t, they didn’t think it was a stroke. So I’m going to, I’m in a wheelchair. And then a few minutes past, my wife comes in, she goes up to the desk and asks the person, Hey, where’s Daniel Coggins gone? And at that point I’ve not been admitted yet. I was sitting in the waiting room.

losing strength, losing the ability to hold myself up. was kind of slumped over in the wheelchair and I was just continuing to decline. So I sat there probably, I don’t know how long, because I kind of lost track of time at that point, but for some time I was sitting in the waiting room, not being treated or seen by a physician. But then once they got me back into a room,

very quickly, were able to code me for stroke and they found that the basilar artery had a huge clot in it and ⁓ they knew that what needed to be done to help bust up the clot and restore blood flow to the cerebellum.

Bill Gasiamis (12:59)
Do they have a, well, perhaps they didn’t at the beginning, but do they have now an understanding of what it was that caused the clot? What was the underlying cause?

Daniel Coggins (13:10)
No, so at this point we’ve done a ton of work ups with physicians and all that. We’ve done stuff with hematology, cardiology, genetics. To this point, is no, there’s no known cause of the clot. The only thing that will not be fully provable, but then may have had some sort of cause was about a week, about two weeks before the stroke, I was really sick and I was sick with the COVID.

like illness and I was kind of down and out for several days from that illness and they can’t prove, right, that that’s what it was. But that’s the only thing in the span of those several weeks leading up to the stroke that was abnormal health-wise for myself.

Bill Gasiamis (14:01)
Yeah, bit of a smoking gun, but you never really know.

Daniel Coggins (14:04)
Right, right. But yeah, they found nothing. They found nothing through all their testing over the last couple of years ⁓ to this point.

Bill Gasiamis (14:13)
Yeah. So how long did you end up spending in hospital?

The Impact of the Basilar Artery Stroke

Daniel Coggins (14:18)
Yeah, so that first day, so I was there, this is July 19th of 2023. So I was admitted into the emergency room. They did emergency surgery to bust the clot. Then my memory begins to be much more hazy. Ultimately, I was in the ICU for two weeks and then I went to a step-down unit for two weeks and then I went to a…

rehab hospital for four weeks. And the journey, so all in all, that’s eight weeks, I guess. But the journey, while I was in the ICU, I was out of it for all of this, right? So I don’t recollect ⁓ what happened to me really, but obviously I had friends and family that were able to fill me in after the fact. And I had lots of different things, so.

One thing in the first, think, 24 hours that was really significant was once they busted the clot, then obviously kind of the goal there from what I understood was to control the swelling and to see what the swelling was doing in my brain. they typically, I guess, were planning to do a MRI or a CAT scan around 6 a.m.

the day after the stroke to kind of assess it and see where things were at. But the nurse practitioner that I had that day, she decided to pull forward that ⁓ MRI or CAT scan by several hours, which then, so they took me down, they did that and identified that, the swelling is pretty significant, pretty severe, and we need to create space for the swelling. We need to do craniotomy. ⁓

in order to have the space for the brain to swell so that the brain doesn’t just compress into the brainstem and then perhaps it’ll be fatal from there. So ⁓ they did that and then they had me do an emergency craniotomy where they cut away a piece of the skull back here on my left side, ⁓ which ultimately saved my life because had they not done that, I don’t think the brain…

would have had enough space to swell because it wasn’t a small stroke for me. The entire left cerebellum is now completely dead for me. ⁓ So my right cerebellum, I think, was very minimally impacted. But the left cerebellum, I guess, due to the clot, the place of the clot and whatnot, the left cerebellum lost blood flow for enough time that the left cerebellum is completely dead at this point.

Bill Gasiamis (17:10)
Dramatic.

Daniel Coggins (17:12)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, when I heard all that afterwards, it was, it was something and it was a very long, very long journey from there because then I was, I was intubated two times while in ICU. I was told that I had pneumonia at one point while I was in there. And then very, very slowly over the course of those next eight weeks and, and into the future. Very slowly, I began taking steps of progress and.

healing and improving over time.

Bill Gasiamis (17:45)
So what deficits were you dealing with when you joined rehab?

Daniel Coggins (17:49)
Yeah,

so four weeks in when I went to the rehab hospital, I couldn’t eat. So I couldn’t swallow. couldn’t, I could talk, but it was very, very slurred. I had lot of dysarthria. I could not stand. I could not walk. Sitting even was challenging. Laying was really about the only comfortable thing I guess I could do at that point. Cognitively, I was…

Impacted as well that came back the most quickly just my cognition. And my ability to think pretty well. ⁓ So that came back most quickly. ⁓ Occupationally like left or fine motor left side left sided effects. So I do a lot of things one handed now. So left side a lot of. Weakness and inability to have, you know. ⁓

to do fine motor tasks and things that require coordination and all that kind of stuff with my left side, particularly my left hand and left arm.

Bill Gasiamis (18:57)
and any sensitivity in the skin in the way that it feels.

Daniel Coggins (19:03)
No, that’s something that some other folks have asked me as well, but no, in terms of sensitivity, heat, cold, touch, I might be a little more sensitive now to heat and cold, but nothing dramatic. Sensitivity and to the touch, it’s all about the same for me.

Bill Gasiamis (19:25)
28 and now you’re dealing with all of that stuff. Your wife as well. What’s family life like at that point? How do you guys go about getting through those eight weeks? Imagine your work obviously is notified. You’re not going there anymore. Your wife is to and from work. How is she dealing with it?

Daniel Coggins (19:48)
fantastic

through this entire thing. ⁓ She didn’t work for a couple weeks. Her work was really cooperative. I was out of work, obviously, for quite a while, about nine to ten months, all in all. ⁓ But she was there throughout, and she was at the hospital for a lot of it, and she was amazing just in terms of, ⁓ you know,

coordinating and having other friends and family come in to help as well. We have a great community of friends and family around us where we live. So they were, they all showed up. I didn’t spend one night alone those, all those eight weeks. So I had somebody stay with me for all eight weeks so that I had somebody nearby and with me, which was unreal.

Bill Gasiamis (20:40)
Wow, man.

Daniel Coggins (20:46)
We really saw people show up. We have a really strong church community and they, by all means, they were there. They showed up. Being my wife, she was a trooper. mean, there was several very dark moments where it looked like I might not make it and doctors were unsure of where things were headed. Especially at one point, they thought that I may survive, but I would have brainstem impact and maybe be…

you know, live, not have a lot of ability to do much. ⁓ and so there were some really dark moments that obviously did not happen, but, ⁓ there were some moments for sure throughout where she was, you know, she was right there throughout all of it and not knowing where things were going to go. Not sure how things were going to play out. but she was steady and present and right there by my side.

Bill Gasiamis (21:45)
Amazing. Are you the type of guy that doesn’t mind accepting help or you’re fiercely independent? What’s it like to go from being totally independent, somebody who is very active, ⁓ never probably needed anyone to help them with anything and then all of a sudden you need everybody to support you. How do you cope with that ⁓ transition?

Learning to Accept Help

Daniel Coggins (22:08)
Yeah, I, ⁓ that’s actually been one of my biggest kind of things I’ve learned through this is just how I guess our independence that a lot of us have or think that we have is in a lot of ways, actually in some ways it’s a mirage and, ⁓ this situation in my life really taught me that and taught that I’m not as independent as I think I am. I’m not able to do as much as I think I am. And I am truly dependent on

people around me. ⁓ So it wasn’t easy, you know, walking through that and learning to lean on people and depend on people ⁓ for everything that most things at that point. less stuff now, but early on I was dependent on people for everything. So not easy to do that, but I think it really just taught me that, you know, I…

I do need people in my life and I do depend on others for so many different things. And I’m not as independent as I might think that I am or might like to be.

Bill Gasiamis (23:16)
Isn’t it interesting? Like that’s the whole purpose of church amongst other things. That’s the whole purpose of a football club. That’s the whole purpose of a interest group. That’s the reason why people meet up. It’s so that you can have a community of people that you have common interests with, but also you have the opportunity to say, Hey, can you help out? Or do you need some help? Can I offer some help? I imagine that being you and from your type of

background and with your ⁓ community at church, you would have been helping people all the time. You guys would have been rallying around the community whenever they needed all the time. And now it’s flipped. Now you’re in that position and you’re finding it difficult. It’s a very interesting thing to contemplate, to think about.

Daniel Coggins (24:06)
Yeah, absolutely. mean, that was something I thought about often as I was kind of starting to recover, but I was typically always in, not always, but oftentimes I was in the position of the one giving and the one helping, the one contributing. And then I was just thrust into this position unexpectedly, didn’t ask for it, didn’t seek it out.

And just all of a sudden I’m in the position where I’m in, I have to receive. And I’m the one that needs the help. I’m the one that can’t do the things and I need other people to show up and help. And ⁓ to your point, yeah, like the, really learned and saw the church for me, be the church. And, you know, it wasn’t just this like group of people. ⁓

that maybe I had something in common with or that I saw on occasion or whatever, but they truly showed up and they showed out in huge ways. And they, they gave us, they contributed to help us financially. They showed up physically with, with meals and spending the night ⁓ spiritually to help support my wife, throw out all of it and support me. And they, they labored.

you know, in prayer and fasting throughout all of it and just being there and showing up in all those various ways and more throughout the entire thing. And I really saw for me, the church be something that I’d read about, right? Or kind of thought about maybe theoretically in my mind. And I experienced it very tangibly in a very real way in that scenario at that time.

Bill Gasiamis (25:49)
one way to be experienced to church as a church goer, as somebody who attends, you know, reads perhaps scripture, perhaps, you know, puts a helping hand over somebody and reminds them of something that they learned in church or whatever. It’s one thing to participate like that. And it’s another thing to participate in. I’m not sure if the right word is passive, like, but in a passive way where

you’re still experiencing church but from a completely different perspective.

Daniel Coggins (26:25)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. mean, for us in that scenario, like, it was either if we were going to take the passive approach, then there would have been no help. And if our church had taken the passive approach, if all of those people had just said, like, hey, I can’t help here, I don’t have the time or I don’t have the resources or whatever, then we would have been left on our own. And that’s where the passivity would have just

shown up, but that’s not what happened. And I’m super thankful to God. I’m super thankful to our community that decided, you know, we’re going to put this into action. We’re going to do something. We’re going to be present. We’re going to show up and be there.

Bill Gasiamis (27:10)
I feel like the religion and churches and things like that are kind of the way you go to prepare for life in a kind of a curious philosophical way. And then life happens and then you’ve got to put those skills that you’ve learned into action. Do you feel like you ⁓ handled that well that you put what you had learned all those years into action?

Personal Growth and Reflection

Daniel Coggins (27:40)
Yeah, I really do. It was actually kind of a little uncanny. ⁓ There’s this other kind of story I have that plays into this question, but two days before my stroke, I ⁓ was out doing some yard work at my house and I was listening to a podcast. And in this podcast, it was an interview between ⁓ one of my favorite pastors.

I’m here in the States. name is Tim Keller and he had actually just passed away. And this guy was interviewing him over the previous few years. And it was this like. Tribute basically to this guy that had just passed away and I was listening to this, this podcast and then these interviews, ⁓ Tim was being asked, like, Hey, he had actually just been diagnosed a couple of years previous with terminal cancer. And he was being asked, Hey, how are you approaching this?

and kind of what are you thinking about with this cancer diagnosis? And Tim’s response that I’m listening to a couple days before my stroke, Tim is responding back to the guy and he says, you know, actually, I was actually talking to God recently and I was asking him to basically put into my life whatever might be necessary in order for me to know God more and to experience him in a more full way.

And so I’m listening to this podcast. It’s really interesting to me in the moment. And I’m just kind of like thinking on that and just kind of considering it. And then lo and behold, two days later, I get the stroke. had a super life altering thing happen to me. Yeah. So for me, ⁓ I very much, you know, I was like, ⁓ I do feel like I was in some way, and form being prepared.

throughout my life, but then even specifically in those couple days leading up to the stroke, I do feel that I was being prepared for kind of what was to come, not even knowing that it was coming. And that all of the things I had learned and experienced and practiced in my faith journey, all of those things were kind of leading up to this moment where I was gonna either, you know, stay the course and figure this out or…

kind of move on and leave God behind. And obviously, given everything I’m sharing now, my story was that I did not leave God behind and that I have to the best of my ability with His help, I’ve stayed the course in that process. But.

Bill Gasiamis (30:25)
Do feel like there was a fork in the road moment? And maybe not deep down in your heart, but do you feel like perhaps you sensed it? I mean, this could be a moment I could go one way or the other here.

Daniel Coggins (30:38)
Yeah, I mean, I don’t know that there was one Fork in the Road moment for me. I think there was lots of Fork in the Road moments ⁓ throughout. But honestly, in so many of the moments, like early, early on where I’m like, my mind’s not even there, I’m drugged up on memory, you know, killers or whatever, I don’t know what they’re called, but I’m on all these drugs that are preventing me to have memory of what happened. And…

Because so many people in my community showed up in all of those days and in all of those moments, I think once I got to a point where like I was able to cognitively decide and, you know, think through a fork, I almost don’t even know that I had much of a fork because I think I had seen and heard about through people sharing with me.

that so many people showed up in all of those earlier moments in the journey that I didn’t even feel like I really had much of a choice. It almost seemed just like obvious that like I, of course I need to keep moving forward because all of these people have been here the past 14, 25, however many days they’ve been here throughout. Yes, it is contingent upon me to decide, but like,

These people have already been there and helped me in all of the harder moments. Therefore, the moments that lie ahead while they’re not gonna be easy, I think I just have to stay the course.

Bill Gasiamis (32:16)
Yeah. It’s very often I speak to people whose faith gets tested. You know, my faith didn’t really get tested, but I did kind of contemplate the possibility that this is all random, know, stuff happens to people. And that means that it’s not in God’s hands what happens. But then I also had the whole, but if, if I, if I embody the idea that

I am God or God lives within me or through me or whatever the word is, then I act according to some of the principles that I’ve picked up through my life, through my background, my religious upbringing. Not that I was very ⁓ religious and not that I go to church often, but still there’s plenty of things that kind of ⁓ have rubbed off. It’s like, then every decision that I make from

that perspective, if I take that on board as like I am ⁓ kind of, you know, one of God’s children, creatures, whatever it is, like from there, if I do the thing that I’m meant to do, which is ⁓ survive, fight for survival, fight to learn, to overcome, to grow and all that kind of stuff, then I’ll be doing the work that I’m meant to be doing while I was on the planet. know, nobody kind of

is on the planet to turn up and then capitulate to a difficult time and then just, you know, let things go down a different path. So it’s like the whole, and my initial way of getting through was going to counseling and psychology support because I needed to talk it through. My wife was amazing. My children were teenagers, the young teenagers.

a lot to kind of wrap my head around and talk about to sort of make sense, make meaning to contemplate my mortality and all that kind of stuff. But what was really cool is I’d been going to counseling for seven years before that. My counselor was like, she was my, she was like my community elder that I never had. You know, I had my mom and my dad, but this lady, her wisdom, her level of wisdom was kind of next level. So I would go and seek out her wisdom.

actually more than be counseled by her amongst other things. And I had been, I’d been seeing her for seven years before that. And I was speaking about it just a few days ago saying like something in me said, you probably need to be doing this for many, many years, you know, from your late twenties to however long it takes, but you need to be doing this. And when I did do it, I felt this real,

kind of sense of calm, even in the chaos, even in the madness. Nobody else around me was calm, but I was. And I was able to make really good, rational ⁓ decisions around my health, well-being, who was and who wasn’t gonna support me in hospital, ⁓ which doctors I was going to be ⁓ attended by. The whole entire process, I was in control of the whole thing. And my biggest job was to…

⁓ Even when I was cognitively impaired and couldn’t make sentences, speak, et cetera, to ⁓ create a ⁓ sense for other people that everything was okay or is going to be okay ⁓ or is okay. And therefore, if I can keep them all calm and collected, because we’re from a great emotional, crazy, very caring…

very stressed out ⁓ community, family, if I can keep them all calm and collected, together we’ll all move through. I felt like I had a responsibility to them as well to make sure that I could present in a way that was ⁓ with deficits in mind. It wasn’t about pretending they weren’t there, but it was just like, still, even with all the stuff I’m going through, we’re gonna be.

calm, collected, logical, we’re gonna move through this and we’ll be okay. ⁓ I feel like those things that you do that you don’t know you’re doing that are preparing you for later in life, like church seems like that for you, like it seems, it was the thing that kind of was that really good foundational stone where you could start leaning onto and then rebuilding from.

Finding Peace Amidst Chaos And Basilar Artery Stroke

Daniel Coggins (37:05)
Yeah, I

mean, think I had… So I’ve been involved in church most of my life and it’s been super essential to my life. ⁓ my faith in Jesus has been kind of the primary thing to most all of my life. ⁓ so I’ve thought about a lot of different things kind of in my head and I formed thoughts about theological things and thoughts about suffering and hardship and these kinds of things.

⁓ so I had contemplated many of those things, but this was the biggest. In the first experience in my life, where I, a lot of that really got put into practice and in a lot of things that I feel that I knew or that I would have said, yes, I agree with that. They, they weren’t just theoretical anymore, but they were real life. were practical for me. And.

And yeah, I mean, you also mentioned I really resonate with something you said, but the thing about peace that really resonates with me because in this very bizarre way, ⁓ even from like early, early on when I was in the hospital, right? As I’m starting to gain cognition of my scenario and of my situation, what’s going on. I had this overwhelming peace and. ⁓

And I guess just this acceptance of the situation and acceptance that like my life will no longer be the same. And there’s gonna be a lot of different things about my life, a lot of different challenges that I’m going to face. But I’m super thankful because from very early on, God just provided me with this acceptance of my plight, of my challenge and gave me peace that like.

It’s not always going be hard. There’s going be, you know, challenging days, challenging moments, but I just had a piece that he’s going to be with me in all of it. And he’s not going to leave me in that he’s prepared me for it and that it’s not a, I’ve not done anything wrong, you know, that made me like deserve this situation or to deserve us.

Bill Gasiamis (39:22)
that.

I love that. I love that you got that.

Daniel Coggins (39:26)
Yeah, yeah, like I just, I just had this overwhelming peace. And I found it in scripture, right? You have the phrase peace that passes understanding. And that really, that really ⁓ applies to my situation. Cause I felt that from a very early time. And my wife did too. My wife really experienced that even earlier than I did because ⁓ she was going through it and she’s like, am I going to, am I going to lose my husband?

what’s going to happen here. And there was this one moment for her day two, day three, forget exactly when it was, but early. And she just had this overwhelming peace come over her and ⁓ she just felt God, you know, guiding her and speaking to her and directing her to trust, you know, certain medical professionals and ⁓ different people that were put in our path that were helping to guide and, know,

helping to treat me and make decisions and whatnot on things that I needed to improve. And yeah, my wife had that as well. And that doesn’t mean I don’t say all that to gloss over or say that we haven’t had challenging moments because we 1,000 % have. And we still do, and I still do. Fortunately, those are farther and farther apart. The more and more I get removed from

the stroke itself. ⁓ but that doesn’t mean those things have been erased or that those don’t exist because they do. But I have had this kind of undergirding, overwhelming peace and acceptance the entire way, even amidst those tough days, tough moments, tough circumstances, all that kind of stuff.

Bill Gasiamis (41:15)
Yeah, I’ve got, um, um, I’m 51. So I’m a few years, uh, older than you a couple of decades. And also I am, uh, going to be, it was 2012. So I’m in 2016, it’s going to be 14 years since the first incident. So I’m a few years ahead of you with regards to like my, the time since my first incident.

And then, ⁓ man, that’s been a journey, like so many things to overcome and so many challenges with deficits on the left side, all that stuff, all those things are like pretty normal things. And then life, life happens to everybody. That’s a forever thing that doesn’t pause. can’t just pause life and then deal with all of your stuff and then get back to life. ⁓ So that’s an interesting challenge. And then as you get older, know, other things start to play up. And for me, I,

Navigating Emotional Challenges Post-Stroke

I started getting really bad migraines recently. ⁓ for many, many years I’ve had just headaches almost every day, either constant or intermittent, or sometimes they’re in the morning, sometimes not there, ⁓ in the morning. And sometimes they’re at night, like all over the place, just headaches everywhere. And my blood pressure went, went really high, ⁓ from somebody who had normal blood pressure literally a year and a half ago to, you know, it being at like one 70 over 110.

And that meant that that created a new wave of doctors appointments, checkups, tests, scans, a whole lot. And I remember I did come home one day, my wife asked me about my recent appointment or scan or checkup or whatever it was. And I just said to her, I think I’ve done enough time. I’ve had enough medical issues. I don’t need anymore.

And I did actually even say like, is this happening to me? I’ve had enough. it just goes to show you like even in your ⁓ calmness and your ability to ⁓ move through and overcome and get better and have a podcast and share all those amazing stories from people and, you know, show hope and all that type of thing. You still have those days. You still have those days. It does get the better of you. And it’s then.

realizing that you’re in that moment and going, okay, I’m going to allow myself this moment, short amount of time, whatever it is, I’m going to have the pity party or whatever you want to call it. And then I’m going to refer back to all the things that I did previously to get me beyond this moment right now. I’m going to refer back to, is it counseling? Is it church? Is it ⁓ contemplation of my faith, my beliefs, putting in action?

my problem solving mind, my ⁓ curious mind, ⁓ whatever version it is so that you can deal with that, contemplate it, feel the feels and then ⁓ move on and shift it and change it and become proactive. it doesn’t really, I’ve found that stroke is kind of, I’ve said it like this, I’ve mentioned it a few times, like it’s the gift that keeps on giving because

The lessons still coming. And I’m not saying that in any way to promote it or to say that it’s amazing. Like it’s not something that I would wish on anybody and I would prefer people never had one. But since you’re here, what else is there to do? Like what else can you possibly do other than roll with the punches, so to speak, or get back up when you get knocked down, you know, there is just no other way to go about it. You have to put in place all the time discipline.

You’ve got to be disciplined about putting in place the solutions to overcome the thing that you’re feeling right now. ⁓

Daniel Coggins (45:16)
Yeah, that was so much of my mindset as well, because when I had the stroke, was 28 years old. And, you know, that’s why when you asked the like fork in the road question for me, I didn’t experience a big one because I think in a lot of ways, I just don’t even know that I had much of an option. You know, I think it was kind of. It was like roll over and. You know, not do anything with this and don’t try or.

do the thing because I have so much life ahead of me, know, God willing, and I’m 28 and I’m married and you know, my wife and I have one day we’d love to have children and all this kind of stuff. And ⁓ you know, like I think for me knowing that like I’m 28 years old, I kind of just have to press ahead and do what I can do my best, ⁓ seek out the therapies that I need to seek out and

put do the exercise that I need to do put the discipline implement the discipline in my life that I need in order to. Game back as much as I can to minimize the deficits you know. I’m going to have deficits but you know how can those be as. Least debilitating as possible how can I get back to work how can I drive again how can I. Game back some of those things that.

those things that make me independent that I don’t want to not in a hope to like have the mirage of like, I’m independent and I don’t need anyone because that was obliterated. That was blown up. But get back to where I have some of those things that make me independent that allow me to, you know, contribute as a friend and as a husband and hopefully one day a father and all these kinds of things. How can I do the things in my life that will help me get to that point?

Because if I don’t, I’m 28 years old, now I’m 30. So it was for me, was pretty obvious, it was pretty clear, I need to do this, I have to press forward. And I had so many folks in my circle and people in the community that have been cheerleaders and advocates and encouragers and pushed me forward. And when I wanted to, you know.

take my foot off the gas or give up or whatever they’ve kept me going and they’ve encouraged me and all that kind of thing. So there’s been so many people that have done that, but yeah, for me it was very much like, is, it’s kind of obvious to me, this is really the only thing I can do. The alternative is just so not what I wanna be. I don’t wanna shrivel up and shrink back and.

live in fear, live in the pity party or whatever, obviously moments of that, but living in that was just not really an option for me, I don’t think.

Bill Gasiamis (48:20)
Yeah, sounds like you burn the bridges, you know, get to the other side of the, could get to the island, burn the bridges and that’s it. This is the only option you have. got to deal with what you’ve got when you get there. And also, ⁓ it’s like suffering, but with purpose, like there’s a purpose behind all of this rather than capitulating and going, I’m not going to do this. That’s it. I give up. But then you’re suffering without purpose because suffering doesn’t kind of go away.

you’re going to suffer the road to recovery or you’re going to suffer the capitulated ⁓ path, which doesn’t give you anything positive. You don’t get anything out of it. It just becomes a constant never ending, like really terrible non-productive suffering.

Daniel Coggins (49:14)
For sure. And I’ve seen that to the point of purpose. I’ve seen that and I see it more and more honestly as time goes. Just in conversation with people and I’ve been able to share my story some with folks. You know, I see the purpose in my story. I see the purpose in what I’ve walked through and I’ve been able to share that story with others and that gives it a lot of purpose. And that doesn’t mean it’s like a

fun story or a fun experience in every way. But it is, it does give it purpose to say, you know, Hey, this happened to me, but, I didn’t just like roll over and take it and let my life just like disintegrate, but rather I’ve allowed it to like push me forward. ⁓ and then yeah, there’s purpose in it. God’s been with me the whole way. And I

I’ve come to know God more personally and in a deeper way than I did before. So I’m able to share that with others and I’m able to share my experiences and what I’ve learned. And it’s given me access to relate to people that I couldn’t relate to beforehand and share with and talk to people that maybe I wouldn’t have connected to beforehand. ⁓ It’s given me…

a voice to have something to share in certain circumstances that maybe beforehand I wouldn’t have much to add or to give. So yeah, I’ve seen a ton of purpose for myself in the journey and then kind of this road that I’ve walked since then.

Bill Gasiamis (50:57)
Yeah. And here you are on the podcast with somebody on the other side of the planet who you never met before. We’re sharing a story and the purpose of that is hopefully it reaches somebody and makes a difference in their recovery and helps them overcome what it is that go through. They’re going through ⁓ contemplate perhaps ⁓ things in a different way from a different perspective and maybe help them on their journey to overcoming whatever challenges they’re facing.

Daniel Coggins (51:27)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Finding Purpose in Pain After A Basilar Artery Stroke

Bill Gasiamis (51:31)
What would you say if you had to rate them? What would be the hardest challenge that you had to overcome? Do you think it was physical or emotional? I think…

Daniel Coggins (51:38)
I

I would say, think the physical piece has been quite challenging and I think I still have that challenge in a lot of ways. I think some of that I’m going to live with probably the most of the rest of my life. I still struggle with a lot of fine motor stuff on my left side. So typing on a keyboard is very tough, very slow. do a lot of one-handed stuff as much as often as I can.

know, physically, like, I, said, I jog beforehand, right? So I’m actually tomorrow with a few friends. We’re running in a 5 K in the city that I live in. So that’ll be kind of that’s been a goal of that on the calendar now for for a while. So that’s going to be exciting to get out there. Run run a 5 K beforehand to 5 K would have been, you know, no big deal now a 5 K.

is about equivalent to like running a half marathon for, in terms of fatigue and effort that it requires and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, physically, I think I still have a lot of challenges and I think I will. I’ve come a long, long way from not being able to, not being able to stand and you know, left-hand my, my left-handed speed and accuracy and coordination has

come a long way, even though it’s still not anywhere near what it was. so physically, I think I’ve come a long way, but I haven’t like fully overcome and I don’t know that I will, but then emotionally to that one, I would say so early on, the interesting thing about the cerebellum is it, it’s smooths. The thing that I learned through this, which I did not know beforehand is I guess the cerebellum helps with like

smooth movements, right? So any sort of smooth movements with my hand or with my body, but then also metaphorically with like my emotions. So transitioning from one emotion to the next, if you know, normally people would be able to transition from the feeling of sadness to not feeling sadness, that might happen relatively seamlessly and smoothly, but for me, it’s much more abrupt now. ⁓

And so like early on I would have emotional moments where like I would just go from one feeling or one emotion to the next pretty quickly. And it was harder to control and it was harder to manage. So, but I do feel like in a lot of ways I have been able to overcome a lot of that, which in not a lot of that’s not even bad. I think it’s, it’s just, it was interesting to kind of navigate and figure out how to, how to manage my emotions. ⁓

But one of the gifts that I’ve found through all of it is actually while I’ve come a long way in how to manage my emotions so that I can just engage in more situations and be present in more spaces. While I have learned how to do that, I do have, think, ⁓ a more heightened emotional sensitivity now than I once did. And in a lot of ways, it’s actually been a gift to me.

Um, so for example, um, like I’ve said, I’m very involved in the church that I go to and, and this doesn’t happen all the time, but a lot of times when I go to church now and we’re singing, we have music, we’re worshiping. And a lot of times there will be something that we sing or something like a lyric in the song that will just really touch me and affect me emotionally. Um, and I’ll tear up or get emotional.

And early on that would happen like all the time, know, that like two years ago, that’d be every song every Sunday. And I just be like, okay, this is kind of annoying. I’m kind of, this is not enjoyable because I can’t control it at all. Whereas now it’s not as often. So it’s actually, so it’s not annoying in that way, but it’s actually a gift when it does happen because I can feel

I guess my emotions being affected by what I’m doing. And ⁓ it’s, it’s, I have a broader, I think, range of emotion, emotional experience than I once did, which is actually in some ways now that it’s kind of regulated a little bit. That’s actually a gift for me that I’ve been able to experience.

Bill Gasiamis (56:30)
I love that. So there is a medical term for that heightened emotional response, the pseudo bulb affect.

Daniel Coggins (56:38)
Okay.

Heightened Emotional Sensitivity as a Gift

Bill Gasiamis (56:40)
Some people have the laughing version of it where they laugh uncontrollably in places that perhaps they shouldn’t be laughing. some people who I’ve interviewed found themselves at a funeral and needing to be crazy laughing. ⁓ so it’s not appropriate, ⁓ but again, it settles down for people and most people are able to control it, or, manage it later on. So years down the track, had the same thing. I still have that.

sensitivity to ⁓ certain experiences that make me emotional. ⁓ Music is one of them. there’s a French song by ⁓ an artist called ⁓ Barbara Pravi or Pravi. And she sings a song called Voila Voila. And the song is about a performer describing what it’s like to be a performer kind of thing.

and sort of doing a meta description of what ⁓ performers go through, something like that. So it’s a performer singing about what it’s like to be a particular type of performer. The thing about it is ⁓ it’s an amazing song when Barbara Pravy sings it. But then there’s a young girl, Emily Cock, who won one of the like America’s Got Talent type of

shows, but in, think, Denmark or somewhere in some other country. When she was like 13, I think it was the children’s version of the show when she was 13. So as a result of that, she wins the opportunity ⁓ to ⁓ perform on stage with Andre Rieu in some amazing outdoor theater somewhere in Europe, I don’t know where. And Emily comes on

And she sings that song better than the original artist that first sang that song a couple of years earlier. And I’m just watching it on YouTube and just in tears because it just gets beyond your barriers. It gets beyond ⁓ the things you put up to protect yourself in the past that nothing’s going to penetrate. And it just gets in there. And the whole story about it is

It’s a fundraiser, that particular event. Emily Cox got a particular condition, which means that she has trouble with digestion or something like that with her stomach. It doesn’t have the ability to digest. So I connect all those dots, who she is, what she’s suffering through, how she’s tackling it, the song that she’s singing, the fact that she’s 13, the fact that she won through all those

you know, difficult things that she’s had to put up with her short life. She’s, you know, um, won this particular event and she’s passionate about singing. And now I get to sit on my couch and watch this song on YouTube. It’s, moving. cannot not be moving. It is just impossible for it not to be moving. So, um, and I get that sense as well. Like I experienced things far more deeply and I never thought of it as a gift, but it’s a really

right way to describe it. really is. It seems to me now that I get to contemplate what you said, that it is a very, ⁓ the spectrum of feeling has, you know, has widened.

Daniel Coggins (1:00:23)
Absolutely.

Bill Gasiamis (1:00:24)
and I

get more of it. I got initially more of the bad as well, which was interesting to contemplate, overcome, find new skills to deal with and learn how to apologize for, for being ridiculous when I shouldn’t have been. know, even that’s a gift, but on the other end, it’s more enjoyable, I think, to be able to get emotional. And at one point, the camera is on the crowd and she’s got this young girl has got like,

I it’s a small shot of a few people, but if you just zoomed out on that shot, which you don’t get to do because you can’t see all the individual faces, I reckon she had half the crowd in tears. It was so moving. was unbelievable. I’m going to put a link in the YouTube description for people who want to watch that video because it is phenomenal. Yeah, sounds awesome. So thank you for sharing your…

You know your perspective on that, that, ⁓ that it can be a gift because a lot of people take it the wrong way. ⁓

Daniel Coggins (1:01:33)
That was the way someone framed it for me very early on, because I was sharing with them kind of the frustration around it. And one of my good friends kind of framed it in that way. And that was, I don’t know, that was two, probably two years ago now. And since then that’s really helped me just kind of have it be able to view it through a different lens and actually see it as a gift and as a positive thing, not as this like nuisance or irritation.

Sharing Stories and Raising Awareness

Bill Gasiamis (1:02:01)
Yeah. So recently ⁓ I had an appointment with my neurosurgeon to do a follow up based on my headaches and all the high blood pressure and all that stuff. And as a result of that conversation, she asked me to do a small presentation at the ⁓ Royal Melbourne Hospital Neurosciences Gala Ball. And they wanted me to present before the main auction so that I could share my story and sort of try and get the crowd, move the crowd.

into a place where they’re going to raise their pedal and buy lots of stuff and spend lots of money at the auction. There’s 400 people at the event. It’s black tie. Like it’s full on. And I agree to it. I love speaking in public. It’s no issue. You’re asking me, you nervous? And I’m like, no, I’m not nervous. I don’t get nervous. I enjoy the opportunity. And as soon as they call my name and I have to walk, you know, the 100 yards from my table to the stage.

and the crowd is clapping, I start getting emotional. I’m not even on the stage yet. And I have to calm myself and gather myself because I’ve got to get through a nine minute presentation. So I get up, I get introduced. I start speaking and I’m going okay for the first one or two minutes. And then I start to mention, I think my children or something like that. And then once again, I start getting emotional.

And I have to compose myself through this presentation about four or five times to get to the end of it after eight minutes or so. And I didn’t see it as a gift then. I see it as a gift now because the result of that presentation, not that I was the only reason why this happened, was that they raised over $100,000. So why not? Why not?

go out there, put it out. Maybe that emotion helped, you know, move the needle above a thousand dollars. don’t know. And that goes directly to supporting researchers to find new ways to support stroke survivors, other people’s psychological conditions. Do you know? Yeah.

Daniel Coggins (1:04:17)
I’ve had a similar experience. I’ve had a couple smaller opportunities in the past five, six months to share my story. And ⁓ the interesting thing too about my story is I’ve shared obviously kind of the stroke piece of it, but in that I had a 12 month period where there was other really challenging things that happened in my life as well. the stroke was the biggest piece for me, the most like the longest and the most…

life altering. But over the course of that 12 months, there was other really bad things that happened as well. One of which was that my dad passed away actually. I’ve had the chance to kind of share the story of that full year now a couple of times. And both times that I’ve done that with a group of people, I struggled to get through it.

I’ve struggled to get through it without, you I’ve had ⁓ emotions and I’ve been, you know, just kind of slogging my way through it. ⁓ to your point though, like, I’ve had to kind of like take moments to collect myself or whatever, but I think I’ve just been convinced that, you know what, like in those situations when I am sharing,

my story and I’m specifically able to share kind of like from my perspective what God’s done in my life over the course of that year and over the course of the challenges that I faced. ⁓ While I’m able to communicate that and share that, I actually think it is a gift to the hearers when I’m able to express emotionally to that degree what has happened to me. ⁓

Obviously, I don’t want to be so emotional that I can’t get words out and I can’t think coherently. Right. But so long as I’m able to still communicate and think clearly and communicate what I want to communicate, I actually think the, emotions that I’ve been able to to give in those situations actually heightened. The, uh, the response and the effectiveness of what I’ve been able to share and.

It made it real, right? Because if I say everything just with a really flat face, ⁓ I don’t think it probably lands as well as if I’m there expressing emotions as I’m sharing it to the here. So yeah, I mean, think that’s part of the gift of communication is the way in which it’s communicated really does impact the person that’s receiving it.

Bill Gasiamis (1:07:06)
I think it gives the here the permission to also be emotional. Yeah. Especially men who avoid it if they can’t. 28 year old guy telling me a story is crying in front of me. Hmm. Okay. Maybe I can do that. Yeah. Maybe if I do do that, it won’t be the end of the world. Maybe they get to observe how other people react and realize that it’s people are not ridiculing you or they are.

Daniel Coggins (1:07:13)
for sure.

Bill Gasiamis (1:07:36)
being moved by your, know, they are touched by your expression or whatever it is. And I think that’s probably what I kind of get out of it is that every time I cry in front of a crowd, 444 people, it doesn’t matter. It’s still, I don’t walk away. I don’t go to another room. I don’t try and, you know, wipe my tears and make everyone feel better. I just go through it and then.

Yeah, get through it and then I just smile and we move on to the next part of the conversation. It doesn’t really matter.

Daniel Coggins (1:08:10)
Absolutely. And I’ve told folks too in those scenarios, I’ve told them like, hey, I even want one of the ⁓ talks I was giving, I was getting emotional, I was trying to collect myself a little bit. And I kind of told the group, was like, hey, like, essentially like, I’ve done this in lots of other scenarios. This isn’t the first time I’ve done this, right? It might be the biggest group of people that I’ve done it with standing in front of them and being

right there up in front of everybody. But I’ve sat in a coffee shop with the person I’ve met for the first or second time and I’ve sat there and I’ve cried with them and I’ve sat and cried with a lot of different people over the course of the months and weeks. so it’s not the first time when it happened in those scenarios, it was just maybe the biggest group, or bigger group in those scenarios.

Bill Gasiamis (1:09:10)
Yeah, I hear you. I’m just going to go back for a second. You mentioned that you’re typing a little earlier and something sprung to mind. Sure. My typing ⁓ left side is a little bit labored as well. It’s not ideal, but I can still type. and recently I came across a AI product called whisper flow. I’m going to have a link in my bio as well. And my little link will give you a one month free trial. this is not a

I’m not sponsored by them or anything. just use this product. I discovered it about six weeks ago. And what you do on my Mac book computer, you program the function button as the button. As soon as you press it, it starts recording and in any field on any website in anywhere that you ever in any program. If your cursor is in that particular field and you press the function button.

And then you speak just like we’re speaking now. It types. It types for you. ⁓ I think my typing speed is like at about 120 words a minute. I mean, I would never be anywhere near 120 words per minute. And it’s accurate. It corrects mistakes as you make them. It kind of gives the right context. Every once in a while you have to go back in and ⁓ change a letter or fix a word. ⁓

takes away that the time it decreases the amount of time it takes to type words into into your computer basically just press the function button and it does it and it’s 150 I think it was 150 US dollars the year for the whole year something like that yeah yeah

Daniel Coggins (1:10:58)
That’s not bad at all.

do a lot of that’s super cool because I do a lot of voice dictation in my job and even his personal time as well. But I can’t do it everywhere. So I do it in like, I do it in the Outlook, Microsoft Outlook or certain applications that have the ability to do voice dictation. But if I’m just searching the web or whatever and I need to put something in a box.

I can’t do it, so that’s actually a fantastic ⁓ tool that sounds like that can really help use it more broadly and that it has a lot of the, it’ll fix mistakes and all that kind of stuff. That sounds great.

Bill Gasiamis (1:11:40)
Yeah, and if you’re on the web and you’re going to Google search bar and you just type in recoveryafterstroke.com, it’ll put it in the correct format so that you can just search it.

Daniel Coggins (1:11:52)
Wow, that’s awesome.

Life After Basilar Artery Stroke: Embracing New Beginnings

Bill Gasiamis (1:11:54)
Brilliant. I’ll have the link for that and I’ll send it to you as soon as the interview finishes, just so you can check it out. can check it out for a month for free. And what’s cool about the free month, it is like the full suite. So you get to experience exactly how it is and you don’t even have to put your credit card down for that entire month. And then if you get to the end of the month and you don’t want to pay, it’ll just go from being the full suite, which gives you unlimited words. It goes down to about 2000 words a month or something like that. And it’s free.

You don’t have to pay anything. even for people who ⁓ don’t type as much as I would or you would, ⁓ just the free version will change your life because it’s amazing. It’s a great, amazing tool and hack for people who have ⁓ deficits in one hand or the other. look out for that link, guys. ⁓ So what’s life look like for you now?

Are you moving through life? What are you doing? How are you involved in your day to day? What’s it like now?

Daniel Coggins (1:13:00)
Yeah, so I went back to work. My company actually held the role for nine to 10 months, which was fantastic. But I work in a role. ⁓ It’s called strategic sourcing. So I have a sourcing role. So I work with a lot of sales folks negotiating contracts, negotiating deals and that kind of stuff. So that’s what I’ve been doing. And I’ve been able to get back into my job. ⁓

day to day, I’ve been able to step back into ⁓ things that I’m involved in, recreationally to some extent, and then spiritually in the church. ⁓ I’m actually one of the leaders at my church, so I’ve been able to step back into that role, which is exciting for me. ⁓ So I think there’s a lot of changes overall. My personality has changed a little bit. My abilities have changed, but I am able to do

a lot of things that I once did. I still have some therapies that I go to where I’m still sharpening different skills. We have a few fantastic therapists in the area that I’ve been able to just build relationships with. So I still go there because I’m still seeing progress even if it is slow with them. And…

Yeah, so and then from a wife and I, we, actually found out recently that we actually are expecting. So we have a baby coming and that was very exciting for us. Um, because. You know, before we didn’t have a baby before and then I have the stroke, I’m kind like, okay. Well, we want to have a child so, but we’re just have to figure this out. So that’s on the horizon for us now. So we’re super excited about that. That’ll be in.

Bill Gasiamis (1:14:53)
Excellent.

Daniel Coggins (1:14:55)
Yeah, I mean, I think just grateful day to day, you know, for what, what God’s given me the ability to do. And, um, I’ve been able to get back to a lot of things that I once did. Some of it looks different, you know, you know, I have different aspirations and desires and things. I want to help people that, you know, have had. Freak medical things happen to them or strokes, young, young stroke survivors, you know, people that have had.

Brain injuries, what have you, so that’s kind of a new thing in my life that was not there beforehand. So I’m super excited over the next several years of how that could, what I could do with that and where I can help people and what opportunities might arise in just in my community or wherever, where I can help people.

Bill Gasiamis (1:15:45)
Sounds

great, man. Good work. ⁓ if someone’s listening, that’s just how to strike. What would you say to them?

Advice for Stroke Survivors

Daniel Coggins (1:15:52)
I would

say, I would say, you know, just keep at it. Don’t like, you know, I don’t know where everyone listening is, you know, listening from, but I know at least in the United States, there’s a lot of, um, listen, like the medical system, there’s a lot of barriers put on like how far you can get. And there’s a lot of, you’ll never get past this or you’ll never get past that. And

And I would just say, you know, think outside the box, find, you know, people that aren’t going to limit you and that aren’t going to tell you that you’ve reached your ceiling and put those people in your corner. ⁓ yeah, don’t be limited by what people around you or what the system around you might tell you is the maximum that you can reach. and then really do just like, I guess, to what we talking about earlier, don’t.

Don’t view it as all negative. Find how something bad, something hard, something painful and something that brings a lot of loss in your life, consider how that could actually be used for good in your life and in the life of others and how actually it’s maybe not fully a bad thing and how…

how it could be used to the betterment of those around you if you allow it to.

Bill Gasiamis (1:17:25)
Yeah. Yeah. Find a, ⁓ like, ⁓ like allocate something like, you know, what’s good about this right now? What could be good about this? If there was something good about this, what might it be? Right. Some kind of question like that. Squeeze out the silver lining from the dark moment. know?

Daniel Coggins (1:17:53)
And just being open to it, you know, like, don’t think every moment you’re always going to have that positive thing. I’m not advocating even for, you know, flimsy, always happy, you know, non-realistic. I’m not advocating for that, but really, but also I guess questioning some of the questions that you might have like, Hey, why did this happen? And actually going past that and asking, well,

you know, how actually could this be used in a positive way and pushing past some of those things and not just like stopping there and letting that just like derail your entire life.

Bill Gasiamis (1:18:38)
Yeah. What do you believe now about healing and growth that you didn’t believe before?

Daniel Coggins (1:18:43)
I think,

well, I mean, in terms of healing for me, like I really do truly believe that like the Lord had me in his hand and that he preserved me and kept me. like, like I believe God played a part in that and that he helped me heal some and improve to a point and stay alive. Right. So that’s, that’s where I’m at on that piece. Within growth. mean, I think.

What I believe about growth is like, kind like what I was just saying. I don’t think, ⁓

I don’t think we should put limits and ceilings to things. I think sometimes we, limit ourselves if we say like, I can only do this or I can only go this far, or I can only achieve X. It’s like, well, the minute you put that ceiling on it or that app, then you probably won’t go past that because you’ve kind of already made it up in your mind that you’re not going to be able to do more. ⁓ so I think growth is.

in a lot of ways is kind of what we make it and it’s how far do we want to go? How much do we want to press in that process?

Bill Gasiamis (1:19:55)
I love it. And what has stroke recovery taught you that most people might not understand?

The Dichotomy of Support and Loneliness

Daniel Coggins (1:20:03)
I

there’s a dichotomy in stroke recovery where, and the dichotomy is this, I think, and I’ve experienced it, where I felt so supported and people have been so quick to listen to me and to hear my experience, to hear my perspective, to be patient with me, to take into account my needs.

So people have been amazing, they’ve been fantastic.

But which is like, I guess the really positive side, but then the other side is it’s a very individual experience. And there’s a very unique, I think, loneliness that kind of comes in the midst of it where ⁓ people love you and people love me, people help me, people look to my needs. They listen to me. They want to understand me. All of those things.

⁓ But then it gets to a certain point where ⁓ they can’t know all the things, they can’t know all the experiences. They can be as empathetic as they’d like, they can put themselves in your shoes as much as they’d want to, but there is a point where they aren’t gonna be able to get there. ⁓ that’s hard, and that’s hard. That’s one of the hardest things I’d say that I’ve experienced is,

those moments where they just cannot, no matter how close they are to me, whether it’s a really good friend of mine or a family member or my wife, I can explain it, but they still might not fully be able to get it. ⁓ So it’s this weird dichotomy of experiencing that pointed loneliness, but then also feeling so supported and cared for and loved. Yeah.

Bill Gasiamis (1:22:07)
That’s such a amazing way that you describe that unique loneliness because that’s exactly what it is. People will never get it. And I suppose if you’re a caregiver listening to this and you want to be supportive and you want to be all the things that your heart is telling you to be brilliant. Also accept that you will never really understand that person in their unique loneliness.

But also if you’re a stroke survivor and you’re experiencing the unique loneliness, also understand and come to acceptance that the other people can never know your unique version of loneliness because in order for them to do that, the only way they can come anywhere near that is to have a stroke themselves. And we don’t want that. We don’t want anyone to know what it’s like to be us at all. We would rather they didn’t.

And that and therefore if you can accept that they never will not through lack of wanting trying or effort just because that’s how it is Well, then you’re going to be okay sitting in your unique loneliness And then what you can do is find a way to channel that to make it ⁓ Transform into something else, you know, initially it’s hard to sit there. I’ve been there and I was frustrated with my wife

and my children and everybody who didn’t understand me. But the reality is, ⁓ it was better when I became aware that my unique loneliness then enables me to do something that nobody else can do with their experience. And for me, it was my version of my stroke podcast, my version of my book, et cetera. I channeled that unique loneliness into other things that I never ever would have contemplated before. ⁓

And I think that unique loneliness gives you another gift of a perspective that you can’t get any other way. You just cannot get it. But it’s what you do with it.

Daniel Coggins (1:24:20)
Yeah. Yeah. And I would just one final thing I would add on that too, is for me, I would say in my moments and I guess my state now in this, having had a stroke in my state of unique loneliness, what we’re in those places and in those times where no human can connect with me or understand me fully. Those have been the moments.

where God has really ministered to me and met me most deeply and in the most real way and being able to share in that with God and from my faith background to share that with Jesus and to know that ⁓ He endured suffering and hardship and I too have done that and I actually share with Him in that now and there’s actually a very comforting

thing that comes out of that, which is kind of mysterious and hard to even explain. But in those unique, lonely moments are when God has met me, I would say.

Bill Gasiamis (1:25:29)
Yeah, wow, that’s profound. ⁓ What makes you feel proud of how far you’ve come?

Celebrating Progress and Achievements

Daniel Coggins (1:25:35)
⁓ you know, I mean, these are just kind of a couple of goals I’ve had over, ⁓ over time, but, you know, I’m proud that I’ve been able to get back to some of the things that I enjoyed doing. said earlier, like hiking, and last, last month, two months ago, my wife and I, went on a vacation and went to one of the national parks here in the U S and we were able to do a hike.

that was 2000 feet of elevation gain and then like seven, six to seven miles. And it was tough, but it was by far like the hardest hike I had done. And my wife and I, finished it and later that day we looked at each other and I was like, I think that would have been the trail that we would have chosen before the stroke. Because over the past two years, a lot of the times when we’re choosing trails that we wanna do, we’re having to like, well like,

that one would have been nice, but I can’t do it. So we have to choose one that’s easier or shorter or whatever. But the cool experience two months ago was we did a trail and it took us most of the day and it was challenging, but it had amazing views and it was all the things that we would have probably chosen to do had I had a stroke or not. So that was just a really cool moment to be able to do that. ⁓

And then also, so, like I said, I’ve done a couple of triathlons and three months ago, my wife and I, and one of our friends, we did a sprint triathlon relay and I was able to do the swim portion of that. And ⁓ that was really cool just to be able to, it was, was challenging. ⁓ The swim was not easy for me, but it was really cool to kind of get back in, that space and.

do something and we didn’t do it competitively of course, but we did it. And it was the same kind of buzz that we felt ⁓ when doing triathlons previously. So it was kind of just cool to have that experience ⁓ again, since we had not been able to do that in several years.

Bill Gasiamis (1:27:55)
Yeah, that sounds amazing. Daniel, thank you so much for reaching out and joining me on the podcast and sharing your story. really appreciate it.

Daniel Coggins (1:28:02)
Absolutely, Bill. I really appreciate all your time. Thanks so much for your time, your listening, and ⁓ just let me have an opportunity to share with everybody.

Bill Gasiamis (1:28:11)
Thanks again for joining me for this conversation with Daniel. If his story resonated with you, the sudden collapse, the dizziness no one recognized, the long hospital stay or the emotional ups and downs that come after a cerebellar stroke, you’re not alone. There are thousands of survivors walking this path right alongside you. Remember to subscribe on YouTube or your favorite podcast app because these stories really do help people feel less isolated.

Remember to leave a comment or a review. It helps more survivors find the show and remember to take a moment today just for you. You’ve earned it. And if you’d like a deeper dive into healing mindset and post-traumatic growth after stroke, my book, The Unexpected Way That a Stroke Became, The Best Thing That Happened is available now. Thanks for listening and I’ll see you in the next episode.

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