Rare stroke survivor shares story of hope, resilience in memoir

By Siddhi Jain

New Delhi, Dec 10 Three-and-half years ago, at the age of forty-seven, US-based Sameer Bhide suffered an extremely rare and massive hemorrhagic stroke and underwent two brain surgeries and then spent a month in a medically suddenly induced coma. In a new memoir, which released this month, the survivor shares the inspiring story of his healing, vigour and vitality.

An unimaginable tragedy happened to Bhide on what he calls “one fine day”: he suffered an extremely rare catastrophic hemorrhagic stroke in his cerebellum. He spent a month in a medically induced coma at Inova’s Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia, followed by an additional 30 days of rehab at Inova’s Mount Vernon Hospital. On that day, life as he knew it ended forever and a new normal set – one that has continued to evolve ever since.

After his stroke, Sameer’s entire life came crashing down, from life-changing debilitating illness to the loss of work, and finally a divorce. His memoir ‘One Fine Day’ captures this amazing story of struggle, and how he came back from the brink of hopelessness with the help of a very diverse community of friends.

In the book ‘One Fine Day’, the survivor shows that his healing journey has taken him from being bedridden and immobile through the use of a wheelchair, walker and then a cane due to access to cutting-edge medical care in the United States and his multiple trips to India where he rounded out his recovery with eastern holistic therapies along with help and support from a diverse group of friends and caregivers in the United States and India along with loving care of his family.

According to a note on the book, ‘One Fine Day’ means life can and will change for good or bad — whether it’s physical or emotional, big or small, personal or professional, planned or sudden for anyone rich or poor, black or white, old or young. This could be any adversity such as physical illness, layoff, divorce, loss of a loved one, and the coronavirus pandemic or good changes in life, whether it’s a marriage, childbirth, promotion or retirement.

These life changes alter our trajectory. They require successful adaptation. We all have a new normal that we will need to face. So when you face your one fine day, what will you do?

Bhide’s mission will be to help and guide people worldwide on how one can prepare for and embrace their personal ‘new normal’ – whatever it is for them – with positivity, grace and gratitude and work to build the lives they want. ‘One Fine Day’ is also a letter of gratitude to the hundreds of compassionate caregivers, friends, family, colleagues, and supporters in both his adopted country (United States) and his country of birth (India), who came from diverse backgrounds to aid in Sameer’s recovery and saved his life.

The book promises to be an inspiration for anyone who is facing any life change or adversity.

A portion of book sales will be donated to Inova Health Foundation, a nonprofit organization to whom Bhide says he owes his life.

(Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in)