Bonita Holder:
CLASS OF 1972
Pattonville High SchoolClass of 1972
Maryland heights, MO
University of MissouriClass of 1976
St. louis, MO
Bonita's Story
After high school I went to UMSL for a brief time. Then I did the old-fashioned thing: I got married to Gary Holder, my senior-year boyfriend from Hazelwood High (I know!) and got my PHT (Putting Hubby Through) in Columbia where he got his undergraduate degree. We moved to Knoxville, TN for him to get his PhD in Experimental Psychology. While in Knoxville, I was a stay-at-home Mom for Scott (1980) and Tiffany (1984), and subbed at area elementary schools.
In 1992 we moved to metro Atlanta (Marietta) and Gary worked on brain-mapping EEG testing. In 1995 he joined MindSpring, an internet provider, and in 1996 I joined him there. It was a great company to work for until they merged with Earthlink in 2000.
2004 was a bad year for us.
I had an ischemic (blood clot) stroke in January. After physical therapy, where I had to learn to walk again without falling over, I have done quite well. People who don't know are astonished when I tell them, but they don;t see the balance checks and d...Expand for more
izziness I still have, and probably always will. I walked a half marathon on Thanksgiving of that year, and it was wonderful!
Incredibly, Gary had a hemorrhagic (bleeding) stroke in September the same year. His was caused by an AVM, a bundle of malformed and tangled veins in his brain. The doctor didn't hold out much hope, but I did, and he survived, better than most. He had brain surgery in January of 2005, and came through that despite encephalitis, MRSA and staph infections. Today, he drives and gets along just fine, although he has an intention tremor in his left arm that makes him throw things into the air without warning; he's learned not to hold things in his left hand! It could have been so much worse and we are blessed that he had no paralysis or major damage, but he will never work again and is on disability.
OK, TMI yet? I'm not done. What do you expect out of the winner of Most Talkative girl???
But for now I am stopping. More later, if you care to visit me again.
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