It had been a somewhat ordinary day for the thirty-year-old, Mrs. Ohio International 2021 pageant winner, Jeri Ward. She had woken up at the regular time, experienced a bit of a headache but nothing alarming. She had dressed and gone off to work like any other day. On this evening, she sat on the couch beside her husband Dean in their Dayton, Ohio home and worked on her laptop trying to catch up on work she’d missed from earlier that day. Aside from the headache, her day had been just another in the office, when she had suddenly become uncomfortably nauseous and left work early to go home and rest. Over the previous five days, she had been battling a migraine that she couldn’t seem to get rid of.
She returned to the house and decided to lie down for a nap. She slept for a while and upon waking, her headache had subsided considerably. The nausea too had settled down and she was able to jump on the laptop and resume working remotely. “I remember sitting there beside my husband when I experienced a feeling of vertigo and felt dizzy. A moment later my eyes became blurry, and I heard a pop in the back of my head. I then could no longer speak or move. I felt like a prisoner in my own body. It was terrifying,” Jeri said.
“I wanted to turn and tell my husband, who was sitting right beside me, that something was wrong, but I couldn’t.” After a minute or so Jeri was once again able to move slightly and speak but her words were terribly slurred.
Dean realized that something was wrong and took Jeri to the hospital. Doctors were alarmed to inform Dean and Jeri that she was in the grips of a massive stroke.
Jeri was born in Emory, Virginia, a tiny town in the southwestern part of the state in the shadow of the Tennessee state line. At the age of four, she competed in her first beauty contest. “I always wanted to be a part of something,” Jeri said. “I was never good at sports, but I loved spending time with people, communicating, and getting to know people. That is part of what drove me to compete in pageants.” She competed in numerous pageants over the years, including the Miss Virginia USA competition. Jeri is an extrovert and made friends easily. She loved listening to the life stories of the other competitors and participated in volunteer work in the community.
Jeri attended King University. “When I got to King, I realized that it was where I needed to be. I was really comfortable, and it felt like home. You feel like you belong there. The campus and environment have a way of making you feel safe during such a transitional period of your life,” Jeri said.
At King, Jeri studied psychology and communications. After graduation, she took a job as a social worker and therapist. It is not uncommon for people that work in the social work and therapy fields to undergo significant stress-related issues from anxiety to depression. Jeri explained that the stress of the job was overwhelming and possibly part of what caused the stroke at such a young age.
After the doctors had stabilized her, she recalled lying in the hospital bed paralyzed except for the ability to blink her eyes. “I couldn’t move. I was a complete prisoner in my own body. But I was alive. Dean saved my life. Had he not been there I would have died,” Jerri said. Doctors discussed the dire situation with her husband. Over the next few days, conversations regarding her critical state were conducted, and often in her presence. “I remember them telling Dean that there was a good chance I wouldn’t survive. They said that if I did, I would probably be in a vegetative state. I heard all of this. I decided right then and there that I wasn’t going to go out like that. That wouldn’t be the end for me. Despite the odds, I was going to make it.” Jeri’s temporary home became an ICU unit. “A stroke may have robbed me of my ability to speak, move, read, and write; but while on the operating table in my first of five brain surgeries I decided that the second I learned how to speak again, I would spend the rest of my life fighting for the lives of others against stroke,” she said. Over time her body began to heal itself. She was eventually able to move her limbs and she had to relearn everything.
The breakthrough moment for her was when she was able to once again swallow food on her own. “That was a huge step in the right direction,” Jeri said. Brushing her teeth was a big moment as well. She endured hours of grueling rehabilitation both physically and mentally. She literally had to start over. But she had a wonderful support system. One of her goals was not just to get back to work or to once again be a companion to her devoted husband, but also to compete one last time in a pageant. “Pageants push me to be a better version of myself,” Jeri said. “My experience in pageants and at King gave me the self-confidence to do things that scared me.” For Jeri, it meant going outside of her immediate comfort zone, and that was where she was able to make an impact.
As she continued to heal, her condition improved she was hired by the American Heart and Stroke association working with survivors of strokes. It was during this time that a board member, of the hospital that saved her life, recruited her to be the director of the organ donations sector of the hospital. Jeri jumped at this new opportunity and promotion. It was a coincidence that she started working at the same hospital that saved her life but says that it has also been a blessing. “I needed to find a way to get back,” she said. She also works with survivors of strokes at the hospital and is a member of multiple organizations that are involved with victims of strokes. “I work in 24 countries helping people,” Jeri said. “I also got a bill passed into law in Ohio dealing with stroke transportation law.” And currently, she is working on changing the federal law with a Senator in Florida. Jeri took a tragedy and turned it into a career and devotion to serving the community. She attributes much of her success to the life lessons she learned as a pageant contestant and says, “I can’t speak highly enough about King. The professors encourage you to think on a global scale, they introduce you to the world. The opportunities are endless there. The professors have a hands-on, they even accompany students on trips.”
The journey of recovery has not been an easy one. Both Jeri and Dean suffer from PTSD, though each day provides breakthroughs in Jeri’s recovery. In July of this year, she will compete for the final time as Mrs. Ohio International in an international competition with competitors from 69 different countries. This competition will be held in Kingsport, Tennessee, right down the road from where Jeri grew up.
“My days are full. This week I have had seven interviews and by the end of the month will I have participated in eleven stroke support groups across the world.” She accomplishes this while holding down a full-time job. Jeri has made the best of what seemed like a bad situation and one that she wasn’t supposed to come out of. “When you have everything taken away from you, you learn to appreciate the smallest things. I already feel like I can confidently stand and walk on stage in front of thousands of people when a year ago I couldn’t move.”
Jeri has devoted the rest of her life to fighting for the lives of others against stroke. And there are signs that you can look for when someone is not acting normal. It follows the statement Be Fast!
Stroke Signs:
- Balance (Dizziness)
- Eyes (Vision blurriness)
- Facial drooping
- Arm weakness
- Speech slurring
- Time to call
Jeri is a testament that nothing is impossible, and if you have faith and are willing to work hard, you can overcome nearly anything, even a massive stroke.