This week, Annette has a touching interview with Lisa Deck of Rare New England, an organization that assists patients, families and others that have been touched by some form of rare disease. The organization provides resources and other educational opportunities to the rare disease community.

Lisa is a fighter, having experienced multiple strokes as well as two brain surgeries. She's an inspiration and now blogs and speaks about her personal experiences. She is an expert at taking her adversity and turning that into advocacy on behalf of others who have had challenging circumstances in their lives.

Lisa begins her story of advocacy at the age of 21, right before her college graduation, when she started to feel symptoms such as numbness, headache and finally ended up in the emergency room, suffering from a stroke. Shocked and frightened - hard to believe someone her age could have a stroke and then six months later, she suffers another stroke.

Her story is tearful, joyful and riveting!

Lisa wants everyone to understand that a stroke can happen to anyone at any age and she has made it her life's mission to educate the public and others as well as advocate for those suffering from a stroke.

Lisa has a very powerful story she shares with Annette including how to advocate and care for yourself, and the power of community. Tune in for more.

You can find out more about Lisa on her website: http://lisadeck.com/

And learn more about Rare New England here: http://www.rarenewengland.org/