Area mom reaches goal on road to recovery   

LAKEWOOD - Imagine not being able to hold your child.

For 32-year-old Emily Lester it’s been both her struggle and her motivation for the last year.

Emily and her husband Craig married in 2002, and last year the couple realized their dream of becoming parents on Christmas Day. “I couldn’t believe it I was like oh my gosh I’m a mom,” said Lester.

But nothing could prepare the family for what was about to happen next—just two days after the baby was born.

“I said to my husband I have the worst headache ever,” said Lester. Her husband wasn’t worried at first but that quickly changed.

“I assumed it was just a headache, then when she fell out of bed when she tried to get up, my first though was that’s a stroke,” said Craig.

It was a stroke, and it left the young mom paralyzed on the left side of her body.

For months Emily couldn’t even hold her newborn child.

“I never really got hopeless about anything, everyday seemed like a new opportunity to gain an inch of progress,” said Lester.

With the help of family and the Easter Seals Stroke Rehabilitation Program Lester is starting to walk again and finally able to hold her son, just in time for his first birthday. “It’s going to be like a normal Christmas now,” said Craig.

Emily still goes to therapy once a week at Easter Seals. Her next goal is to walk her son to school on his first day.

To find out more about Easter Seals and its programs click here