Community supporting Bryan woman after major health scare

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Feb. 12 is a day Stephanie Johnson will never forget.

She went to work and ran errands. Although, things changed in the afternoon.

“I started feeling something coming up the back of my neck, and I was like oh it’s a pain in my neck and it felt like hot lava going up towards my face,” Johnson said.

That was followed by more pain and dizziness. After hitting the floor, first responders arrived moments later.

“I don’t remember anything else but them like grinding in my chest, calling my name but after that, I don’t remember anything else after that,” Johnson said.

Johnson suffered a major stroke and was life-flighted to a Houston hospital.

“I had a ruptured aneurysm in the back of my head that had ruptured and it was like really a touch-and-go situation,” Johnson said.

At that point, medical reports weren’t in her favor.

“The doctor came in and told me it’s a 50/50 chance my mother would live and if she did live, she would be a vegetable,” Marcus Turner said. “She wouldn’t be able to do anything on her own.”

Turner is Johnson’s son. He said he didn’t believe what the doctor reported.

“I grabbed the doctor’s hands, and we prayed together and the doctor welled up with tears and he said wow and walked back into the room and immediately things began to change,” Turner said.

After surgeries and several tests, Johnson began to make a speedy recovery by the end of February.

“I was walking every day with the walker and then I eventually graduated from the walker, and I started walking by myself with the assistance of PT walking alongside of me, but I started walking by myself and all that and I started eating better,” Johnson said.

Johnson returned home on March 6 and is grateful for life. She was expected to be in the hospital for a minimum of 10-15 weeks.

“I give all the credit to God,” Johnson said. “I do, I really do because it wasn’t nothing but God. That’s who it really was.”

Her family is hosting a benefit dinner and silent auction for her on March 23 at the Courtyard Marriot in College Station.

Funds will go towards her bills and recovery.