After successfully building her business over the last twenty-plus years, Marcia Moran thought she had life by the tail. Little did she know what was in store. Marcia has written over fifty business plans and helped entrepreneurs strategize over how to differentiate their companies in changing environments. After helping other entrepreneurs start their companies, she decided to found her own business consulting practice, Performance Architect, in 2012 and co-founded Positive Business DC that same year.

She suffered a major stroke in 2014. Marcia applied her skills in planning and strategy as she strived to become a whole. She never gave up. Over time she learned to walk again, but Marcia struggled with aphasia, a language disorder. She joined Toastmasters International® hoping to regain her speaking abilities. It helped some, but in August 2017 she discovered a technological breakthrough that minimized her speaking disability.

She then pushed beyond her comfort zone to become a Toastmasters International Club Officer in 2017, then Area Director in 2019. Marcia created Stroke FORWARD because she felt there is a need to share hope to stroke survivors and their caretakers. Learning to become her own health advocate one step a time and exploring holistic methods for healing are keys to her recovery.

Marcia speaks and shares her message of hope, inspiration, healing, and a way forward as she goes across the country. She welcomes new opportunities to help individuals affected by major health crises to move ahead. Marcia lives with her husband Jim, two very loud cats, and two birds near Washington, DC.

Jim played the role of caretaker and advocate. His observations and experiences are also captured in Stroke FORWARD. "I had a stroke on March 30, 2014. I thought I would be back to my old self by my first anniversary. I wasn’t. So, I thought, I will surely be back to myself by my second anniversary. Nope. Nor my third. That’s the time I realized that I would never be the same as I was before. I kept trying though, because I wanted to recover as much as possible."

"In the mean time, I wrote a book about my recovery called Stroke FORWARD: How to Become Your Own Healthcare Advocate . . . One Step at a Time. "

"Had I ever thought of publishing a book? Not really. But after having to learn to walk again, talk again, and write again, I needed to give hope to other people like me who gave up when it seemed that recovery is too hard. It is tough. Among other things, I had aphasia (a speaking disorder). If the symptoms aren't addressed by the second or third month after a stroke, the National Aphasia Association says that people will likely have it for life. Three-and-a-half years post-stroke, I found a doctor that would give me a way to speak normally again."

"What I have learned from my whole experience? Don’t. Give. Up. Ever."

Marcia Moran...

Marcia can be reached through her website: https://www.strokeforward.com

and her Social Media https://www.facebook.com/StrokeForward/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marciamoran/

https://twitter.com/Stroke_Forward

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