This video shares a poignant personal story about resilience and recovery in the face of severe life challenges. The speaker recounts a crisis day in March 2022 when they felt overwhelmed and on the brink of giving up. Following a desperate plea for help and a series of supportive interventions by a caring sister, bus driver, and strangers, the speaker ends up in the hospital in dire condition, battling a severe health crisis related to substance use and unaddressed trauma.

The narrative emphasizes the emotional and physical struggles the speaker endured during an extended hospital stay, where they faced life-or-death situations. Medical professionals deemed the situation critical, with the speaker having only a 5% chance of survival. Despite the overwhelming odds, the speaker found strength from within, motivated by love for their family, particularly their children, and support from the hospital staff, leading to a miraculous recovery.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. psychosis [saɪˈkoʊsɪs] - (noun) - A mental disorder where a person loses some contact with reality. - Synonyms: (delusion, insanity, lunacy)

So in my psychosis and in my body failing, I'm like, I'm not 50.

2. resilience [rɪˈzɪljəns] - (noun) - The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. - Synonyms: (endurance, tenacity, perseverance)

But one thing I did have was hope. And I had resilience.

3. projectile [prəˈdʒɛktɪl] - (adjective) - Relating to something that is thrown or discharged with force. - Synonyms: (flying, launching, propelling)

All of a sudden, I start projectile just.

4. humiliation [hjuːˌmɪliˈeɪʃən] - (noun) - The state of being embarrassed or ashamed. - Synonyms: (embarrassment, disgrace, shame)

I thought, oh, it's humiliating. I can't tell people.

5. dispelling [dɪˈspɛlɪŋ] - (verb) - To make a doubt, feeling, or belief disappear. - Synonyms: (banishing, dismissing, eliminating)

But now I know that that's okay. I know it's okay to be me, and I know it's okay to tell my story.

6. legacy [ˈlɛgəsi] - (noun) - Something handed down by a predecessor. - Synonyms: (inheritance, heritage, bequest)

What a legacy. I was leaving that legacy for my children that their mother was going to die.

7. intervention [ˌɪntərˈvɛnʃən] - (noun) - The action or process of intervening. - Synonyms: (mediation, involvement, interference)

The narrative emphasizes the emotional and physical struggles the speaker endured during an extended hospital stay.

8. triage [ˈtriˌɑːʒ] - (noun) - The process of determining the priority of patients' treatments based on the severity of their condition. - Synonyms: (sorting, screening, prioritizing)

And a doctor came out a triage and said, here's a piece of paper.

9. resuscitation [rɪˌsʌsɪˈteɪʃən] - (noun) - The act of reviving a person and returning them to consciousness. - Synonyms: (revival, renewal, restoration)

In the mri, they come out, they left me on the resuscitation table for 48 hours.

10. compassionate [kəmˈpæʃənət] - (adjective) - Feeling or showing sympathy and concern for others. - Synonyms: (sympathetic, empathetic, considerate)

The significant role of support systems, such as family and compassionate strangers.

Unfinished business, the power of hope - Emma Klassen - TEDxGrandePrairie

Hey, I want to take you back to March 2022. It was not a good day. The day before, I went to my sister's house and I stayed there the night. I was a hot mess. It was a bad night. But the next day she drove me back to where I was staying and she gave me two things of protein and a Vitamix. And in my head I thought, this protein is not going to save me and the Vitamix is not going to either. And I got out of her car and she said, I'll see you at 4:30. And in my head I'm like, no, you won't. So I got out with all my protein and my Vitamix and another blender. I don't know why I had two blenders, but I did and dropped them off. And I just walked out the room. I laughed and sorry. And I ran. I ran to the highway and I looked up and I'm like, please, please. I know this is the day. I know this is the day. But I choose life. I choose my family and I choose love. Please. Please don't. Don't take me. I just knew there's something in me and I wasn't ready, but I knew it was going to happen that day.

So I'm pacing around Denny's just walking around thinking, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? And I had no money. I had nothing. But there was a bus, a city bus. So I like run to the bus and I'm like, I have no money, but can I get on this bus? I need to get away. Just get me away from here. Get me across that bridge. This is in Vancouver. I need to get across that bridge. And he's looking at me like, what's going on? And I get on that bus and it's full. It's full of children and people and grandparents and all of these people. And I'm at the front, like, it's not good. This is not a good day. So this amazing bus driver, he takes me across the bridge and then he drops me off. And then two police officers come and get me. And I'm like, okay, this is okay. This is okay. And I go to the hospital, the emergency room, and I just didn't feel right. It's like I couldn't find my way out of a maze. And a doctor came out a triage and said, here's a piece of paper. There's a shelter just down the street. They'll help you. And again, the protein didn't work, the Vitamix didn't work. And this piece of paper's not going to work either. And so I left. And I stood outside that hospital. Like, what I'm doing right now, pacing, pacing, pacing up and down for about three hours.

And then I find an iga and I go into this IGA again. I knew something was wrong. I wasn't quite right. And it was like I couldn't find my way out. I couldn't find a bus stop. I couldn't find the road to get to the place where I needed to go. So I see IGA and I see this lovely lady doing the flowers. And I go up to her and I'm like, I know this is going to sound weird, but I think I need your help. I said, there's something wrong. It doesn't look good. And she's like, okay. So she calls for help, 911, and I'm not there. Like, I'm leaving. Like my body's shutting down. My brain is at a low, low point. And she's on the phone with 911, and she. I guess the dispatcher said, well, what does she look like? Well, she looks like a very nice lady. And she's wearing a nice long jacket. It looks newer. I think it's guests and some stretchy pants. And then the dispatcher goes, well, how old do you think she is? And this lovely lady goes, oh, she looks about 50. What? What? So in my psychosis and in my body failing, I'm like, I'm not 50. I'm like, what? Anyways, so it's amazing what the brain can do. Moving on. So more please show up. And they were so lovely. And I'm sitting there drinking water, and they're like, how can we help you? Because I didn't fit the norm. Like, I didn't have dirty clothes, I didn't have scabs all over me. Or I didn't. I didn't smell, or maybe I did, I don't know. But it wasn't my best look.

So then I sit there, and the officers are like, well, how can we help you? The only thing I remembered was, sorry, was my sister's name. Nothing else, just the name. And so they looked her up and they called her, and they said, you need to come and get your sister. So she did. And so if you knew my sister, she's very, very well off, Very put together. Nothing like her younger sister. And she comes up in her little. I don't know, what are those things called? Cayenne thingies or whatever, one of those cars. And she comes in iga, and she's like, what? She's like, oh, you don't look good, girl. She's like, what the hell is going on? And so she's like, we gotta go. We gotta go. So a half an hour later, I'm in the emergency room. All of a sudden, I start projectile just. I know, tmi. I'm sorry, but it's going to get deep here. I started projectile vomiting, and then I had a seizure. And they were trying to get me to wake up, and I just wasn't coming too. And my nickname when I was a little girl, I'm from England, was Flossie, Flossie McGee or Flossie Magoo. And the doctor's like, what do you call her? What do you call her? We got to get her up. We got to get her up. And my sister. Oh, Flossie. So I remember laying in the bed, totally out of it, and the doctors are just going like this, flossy, wake up. Flossie, wake up. And I'm like. And I woke up. So it worked. So anyways, the doctors couldn't find out what was going on with me.

So again, the mri, I ended up having a seizure. In the mri, they come out, they left me on the resuscitation table for 48 hours because they said, she's not going to make it. She's done. Like, put the. Put the tag on her, roll her out, it's over. And for some reason, I wasn't done. And they moved me upstairs to the NICU and then the icu. And I stayed there for eight weeks. So for eight long weeks, I stayed there up and down, up and down. They said that I was in the perfect balance of life and death. I had tracheas, I had holes. I had chest tubes again. Well, you can see right there, not a good look. But one thing I did have was hope. And I had resilience. And I had a family that were told to come and say their goodbyes to me.

So imagine your five children coming to say goodbye to their mom. How horrible is that for them? What a legacy. I was leaving that legacy for my children that their mother was going to die. And it was because of drugs. It was because I couldn't deal with so much trauma that I just felt like I had to numb the pain. And it started off so very lightly, so very slowly, and it just progressed and it progressed. And then life just takes over. And I thought, I can't do this to them. They need me. So six weeks in didn't look good. I was, like, yellow. Well, like a pumpkin. I'm like, I'm going down. But I just. There was something inside of me that's like, fight, fight, fight. You're not done. You're not done. And I remember when I was in that room right there, a little lady, like, this big would come in every day, like, just. She would, like, running like this. Because there's cameras everywhere. You know, in the icu, everyone's watching you. And she would run in and she would be like.

She would look at me and she would be like, I believe in you. She's like, this. And this. She's like, that will get you out there. And I'm laying there, like, what? Will it really help me? And you have to laugh. Humor is. Humor heals. Let me tell you. And every morning. And she was the one that came in and changed the garbage every day. She would come in, like, every day believing you. And she did that for, like, three weeks. And it really made a huge difference. And so I got healthier and I got better. I had a 5% chance of living. That was it. 5%. That's why 5 is my lucky number now. And coming from that, I was able to rebuild my life. Like they said before, I'm a mother, I'm a sister, I'm an auntie. You know, I'm a counselor. I help people. How could I have gotten like this? Shame on me. But it happens. It happens to the best of us. And I think that my job now is to spread hope and resilience, that I am the face of addiction.

I was that person. I was in Vancouver. I made poor choices. I'm not excusing that. But I never dealt with the bigger pieces, the broken pieces. I never dealt with that. I let it go. I did the doggy paddle through life. But now I know that that's okay. I know it's okay to be me, and I know it's okay to tell my story. I thought, oh, it's humiliating. I can't tell people. Like, what are they gonna think? How disrespectful. But what I wanna share with all of you is that, you know, if you know somebody or, you know, you have a family member with addiction or that needs help or something's going on in your family, I promise you, it does get better. You know, I think with love and support and faith, whatever that looks like for you, it does help, you know, And I think we all have the ability to be the best versions of who we want to be.

And so now, that was two years ago. And. And I've seen two daughters get married. I have a 16 year old who drives me nuts. But I love it. I love it. And life is amazing. So two years ago, this was me. I was there. I was like, I was almost out. No child should have to go and hold their mother's arm and say goodbye in that capacity for that reason, you know. And so, yeah, I just wanted to share that story and that, you know, like, it does get better. And, you know, I always say to my kids, now, do better, be better. You know, make those choices, talk to your kids. And it gets better from there. So thank you for listening to my story.

RESILIENCE, TRAUMA, INSPIRATION, LEADERSHIP, MOTIVATION, RECOVERY, TEDX TALKS