We often talk about resilience as if it appears the moment crisis arrives.

In this episode of Heal the Burn, I speak with Dr. Prema Samy, an otolaryngologist from Ontario, Canada, whose husband, also a surgeon, suffered a life-changing stroke.

Overnight, she found herself not only a physician and mother but also a caregiver, all while trying to recreate herself and discover what it takes to survive in her new reality.

We discuss identity, control, empathy, and why resilience may be best created long before we need it. This conversation is less about stroke than what remains when certainty disappears.

She wrote a book about this experience that encompasses her voice, as well as her husband’s, as they try to figure out what new normal looks like. Check it out here:

Frontiers: The Journey of Two Surgeons Through Stroke

Listen to our conversation: