Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Grayson.
Hi Rachel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am an elementary school educator and lifestyle blogger. I have a passion for educating our future and I also love helping people stay positive in this crazy world. I was born in Los Angeles, California and raised in Delaware. After graduating from University of Delaware in 2012 and then completing my first year of teaching, I decided to move back to California for a fresh start. I worked for an insurance company while also dipping into the entertainment industry and participating in various award shows, red carpet events and backstage production. Even though I had a wonderful time exploring new career paths, I really ended up missing teaching children. So, I decided to go back to teaching in California.
Now when you live in California and your family is all the way on the east coast, you really end up getting homesick and miss your family. Eventually, I felt this way once my cousins were having kids that I haven’t even met yet! So I decided to move closer to my family in the beautiful city of Miami. I am also an educator here!
After COVID-19, I think that everyone had a wake-up call to go after your dreams since life is so short. How traumatizing it was to see thousands of people even families dying every day by an unknown virus. After I survived that time, I knew I wanted to add something along with my career.
I’ve always loved to write. I was one of those students that would go above and beyond what the teacher asked when it came to writing essays. I also am in love with film and screenplays. I love the power of telling a story and how this form of art can touch people. I’ve been journaling and writing stories, screenplays, and scripts since I was a pre-teen up until now so I wanted to showcase my talent in a fun way. So, in December of 2021, I launched a new website called www.rachwrotethat.com. Here is where I would express my writing in the form of blog posts and share my interests while helping people at the same time. I recently also launched my own merchandise store so readers can show their support with Rach Merch!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
God is real. Jesus is real. The Holy Spirit is real. I consider myself a Christian. I believe that we as a people are the church and we can meet God anywhere and at any time. Growing up I went to church a lot. I got saved when I was about 12 or 13. I have to admit that I didn’t really go through a near-death experience to experience God but that moment came when I turned 30 years old. I am a living and walking miracle and I Thank GOD for that every day of my life.
It was August 2020 and it was an ordinary day. I had just gotten off summer break and was fresh and ready to start a brand new school year. I was super excited to meet my upcoming third graders but I had to wait two weeks and go through professional development. Now about a week leading up to my incident, I was getting horrible headaches every day. I blamed the heat and maybe my diet so I would just take over the counter headache relief pills and keep it moving. On this particular day, my head felt a little weird but I just drank some water and ignored it.
So I walked to work and when I got to the school, I said hello to my coworkers. I entered my classroom and my co-teacher was there. I logged into the ten-minute morning meeting and afterward started to ask my co-teacher about lesson plans.
Then suddenly, my head felt like someone just took a baseball bat and hit me in the forehead with it. It was the worst pain that I experienced in my entire life. I remember calling on Jesus and then all black.
I woke up on the floor and my principal was holding my hand and the rest of my co-teachers were all huddled around me. I was super dizzy and in pain and I felt blood on my brain. I remember the paramedics coming in and asking me questions but after a traumatic experience like that, you don’t remember all the details. One thing I do remember was begging everyone not to tell my sister what happened because she was pregnant with twins and I would hate for her to stress. I remember begging “Please don’t tell my sister… she’s pregnant”.
I vaguely remember the ambulance ride. Everything happened so fast. I remember getting a CT scan and being very cold. Like shivering. I felt like I was dying.
Then a black out.
I woke up in ICU and it was nighttime. I touched my head and it was covered in bandages. I touched the right side of my head and I felt about 20 staples. I grabbed my phone next to me and had so many missed calls and texts from my family, friends, and coworkers. I immediately called my family and said “hey guys” they all started screaming out of thankfulness because apparently, they couldn’t believe I could talk. I said what happened? They said you just had 8-hour brain surgery. I was like what?! I was in shock but super groggy and tired. So I told them I would call them back and went straight to sleep.
When I awoke, they told me I was moving from ICU to a regular room. That seemed like a good sign. When I moved to my regular room, I met the guy who saved my life. My neurosurgeon, He told me I had a brain aneurysm and a stroke. I went through the surgery and every hour, they would call my family to update them on my progress. Obviously, the surgery was successful and my doctor told me that I was supposed to get physical and speech therapy but the surgery was so successful I didn’t have to.
I would have to spend about a week and a half in the hospital to recover and it was a painful recovery process. It was normal to still get headaches as my brain was adjusting to the fact that it had surgery on it. Since this was 2020 and covid was still running rampant, I wasn’t allowed to have visitors but the roommates I would have in my room kept me company.
When I returned home, I was paranoid and depressed. Every time I got a pain in my head, I would think that it was gonna happen all over again. My Mom would stay up with me and hold ice packs to my head to try to relieve the pain. She would write down the 12 medicines that I would have to take daily and make me food and sweet treats to make me feel better. Prayer got me through and I grew closer to God. I learned to express gratitude to replace my fears and negative emotions.
After about a month, I was able to return back to work. The reunion with my students was emotional but I was so thankful to be alive.
I was more conscious of everything that I put in my body and changed my entire diet. I lost 30 pounds and began to work out a lot more. I felt better each day and more confident. And then eventually, my headaches stopped!
You have to experience God to believe in God. I experienced him through brain surgery. I know that HE is real and I know that he SAVED me. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about what happened but each day I grew stronger. Now I am strong enough to share my story and to raise awareness for Brain Aneurysms, I am a survivor.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am an educator and lifestyle blogger. I also have my own merchandise store via Zazzle. On my blog, I love to blog about life experiences. I tell the story of how I lost 30 pounds in a healthy way. I love to interview small businesses and showcase their products via my website and social media. Also if I find something that is healthy, funny, cool, or convenient, I’m going to blog about it! I am in the process of creating children’s books and a first-year teacher guide for newbies.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My favorite childhood memory was when my Mom homeschooled my sister and myself. My Mom was a teacher for many years but we skipped preschool, kindergarten, and half of the first grade to be homeschooled. My Mom was a single mother and gave us her all while still working. She would buy green lined paper, tape the alphabet to our bedroom walls, make homemade dolls for us to play with and take us on several field trips throughout the city. My Mom would read several books with us and helped us write our own books too.
My Mom made me fall in love with education. She made me have a love for learning. My Mom made learning fun and provided unconditional love for us always. I still remember her grading our work and giving us rewards for learning. When we decided to try out public school, me and my sister had very high test scores when we took our placement tests. From then on, we excelled in everything we did. I owe all of that to my Mom!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rachwrotethat.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachwrotethat/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/Rach-Wrote-That-106065551953202
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/rachwrotethat_
- Other: https://www.zazzle.com/store/rachwrotethat/products
