Before what she and her husband call their “one bad day,” Christine Patten was a director at a global law firm and an expert communicator.
Now, Patten, 54, struggles to describe what happened after she developed aphasia in 2016 following a sudden brain bleed, sometimes taking long pauses to find the right words, or letting her husband, Vincent, jump in to take over when it becomes too difficult.
Processing what others are saying is a challenge, especially in groups of people. And she has to practice reading every day, which is frustrating, because it still sometimes takes her 30 minutes just