In November 2017, I sustained a gunshot on the left side of my head in a robbery. I was in a coma for three weeks and when I came to I could only say three words – Ah, Hmm, and Ja. In the beginning, I was scribbling on a writing board (I mostly drew diagrams in the first week or two) to talk to visiting friends. I was diagnosed with apraxia because I had difficulty pronouncing words. At this stage, I felt like a three-year-old learning to speak again.

I met Gina in a rehabilitation unit when I was out of intensive care for one focused speech session per day as part of extensive therapy. (I’m really thankful to all who helped me during this time because I had extensive occupational and physical training too). The speech therapy started initially saying monosyllables properly - ma, me, mee, mo, moo, and so on. For the first month, I struggled to say “Hello”, “Good morning”, “How are you?”, “I am fine”, pronouncing the numbers from one to twenty, the days of the week (Monday – Sunday), the months of the year (January – December) for example. It was stressful and annoying because I was using these words for the past 40 years! After three weeks I was only using the writing board if I couldn’t make myself understood using speech and hand motions. After a month I got rid of the writing board but I had problems formulating full sentences and pronouncing multi-syllabic words – pronouncing Venezuela was impossible. After two months of therapy, I was speaking more or less, and I could even book a table in a coffee shop! Correctly pronouncing Venezuela took more time.

Gina is an extrovert and extremely patient which made the therapy sessions a lot easier and fun. I found the sessions enjoyable and very helpful despite the frustration with the injury.