After living in many different places, Christine moved to Healdsburg 15 years ago with a fellowship to attend Sonoma State University for her teaching credential. She also waitressed in town while renting a $500 studio in an old garage.
After a couple more moves, she settled in to her current duplex on Fitch Street. She began teaching special education at Healdsburg Junior High and also coached volleyball. Christine’s world looked bright.
Her life fell apart when she suffered a sudden seizure on the volleyball court. Christine was told by doctors not to worry – she was simply stressed. But she knew differently. An MRI discovered Arterial Venous Malformation in her brainstem – a tangle of veins and arteries. She was told to wait and see.
Three weeks later, (in 2008) she suffered a massive stroke while taking out the garbage.
“An excruciating pain rose from my feet throughout my body,” Christine tells me. “I was on the phone when it happened, and all I could manage was ‘Call 911.’ I tried to stay awake but was in and out of consciousness while I waited for the ambulance. For the next three months, I was in Kaiser Hospital.
“When I came to, I didn’t remember anything or anyone. I forgot my past, and people still have to remind me of things. I forgot how to do simple tasks and was physically unable to perform them. I had to relearn everything during those months.”
What kept Christine going during that period was her love for her home and her town. Because of the brainstem condition and the Central Pain Syndrome related to the stroke, she had a total of five brain surgeries after her initial rehabilitation.
“All I wanted was to come home to this house,” Christine recalls. “I had never lived anywhere so long or felt that way before. People would see me practicing my walking on the sidewalk and give encouragement. One man gave me a tape recorder to help me remember. Carole Read from the school district was instrumental in getting me a three-wheel bike. The Chamber bought me a used car, but I gave up on that. People showed up to clean and paint my house.
“I’m still making improvements. I can now walk miles and I talk to everyone whose path I cross. I volunteer at the Chamber and with Kaiser stroke victims. I like being able to live alone and take care of myself. I feel secure and loved, even though I can’t earn money. I live on disability, food stamps and in-home support services. I had to wait five years to get help with Section 8 housing. I am just one example of so many of us.”
As her world realigned in a way that was completely unexpected, but filled with deep meaning, Christine was hit once again – from a different direction.
“Several of us in town recently got notices from the new property manager of our rental homes of a rent increase of 50-65 percent. We have invested our own money for home improvements and taken impeccable care of our homes because our rent was low and we were appreciative.
“Since we are all living paycheck to paycheck, we have no way of affording this huge increase and we can’t do anything about it. I’ve been reading about gentrification, massive rent hikes and evictions in San Francisco, and now it’s happening all over Sonoma County. For increased profit, short-term vacation rentals have taken over and real rentals are becoming extinct. There’s nothing on Craigslist.
“I’ve talked to our city council members. They believe we need to build new housing, but by the time it’s built, we’ll all be gone. This is happening so fast and spreading like wildfire. Most of my friends are renters and we have no place to go.”
Not one to sit around, Christine feels passionately that this is an issue worth fighting for on the local level. She has already created a Facebook page called “Healdsburg Affordable Housing,” which more than 470 Healdsburgers “liked” in the first three days. Mostly people she doesn’t know, all are deeply bothered by the recent developments.
“At the rate we’re moving, it’s not going to turn out well,” Christine worries. “I can’t stand that our community would put kids out on the street. Why are we accepting this?”
Besides her desire to continue living in a compassionate community that includes children and ethnic/economic diversity, Christine remains deeply involved in stroke awareness.
She was asked by the director of Strike Out Stroke to help throw the first ball at the S.F. Giants game on August 15. Jerry Eddinger has offered a van and Mayor Shaun McCaffery and Police Chief Kevin Burke will be going along.
She has also planned her own Strike Out Stoke baseball event – a Prune Packers game on July 11 at 6 p.m. at Recreation Park. All stroke survivors are invited and Christine has extra tickets. This is what the real Healdsburg is all about.
Shonnie Brown is a local author and memoirist who is interested in fostering connections between people and their community. Shonnie writes personal and family histories through her business, Sonoma LifeStories, and is also a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She can be reached by e-mail at shon
ni*@so***.net or on the web at sonomalifestories.com.
