Christine Hyung-Oak Lee suffered a stroke when she was 33, and she has written about her experience in an inspiring personal essay for BuzzFeed.

Before that, she was using a pseudonym on WordPress.com to blog about her experiences, share details about her life, and practice her writing. In 2007, shortly after New Year's Day, Lee wrote the following in a blog post:

something in my brain burped. most of what i want to do is just out of my grasp. i feel like i know how to do them, but then when i go to do them, i just…CAN'T. day by day, i'm regaining my abilities, so i hope this is just temporary.

Lee's commenters urged her to see a doctor, and the next day, she responded to them from a hospital bed: "I had a stroke! Will be better."

I spoke with Lee about her experience, and what she has learned about herself and her writing. Read more of this post