Lira marks one year since she had a stroke
"I cried the whole day - and in the morning I accepted my situation."
One year ago, Lira's life changed in an instant when she suffered a stroke while in Germany for work.
The 44-year-old took to Instagram on Wednesday, March 22, to reflect on that fateful day.
"I was so happy to be in Germany, it had been 3 years since I travelled overseas due to covid and I had travelled alone to Frankfurt, the band was coming from Sweden. I arrived two days before my performance. I walked around taking in the sights and scenes and the people," she wrote.
Lira says she spent the whole day walking and even saw the venue where she was supposed to perform.
"At about 4:15pm I had a stroke, the sensation lasted about 15 minutes. I had no idea what was happening, so I kept walking and nobody could see that I had a stroke because I was walking normally."
The 'Feel Good' singer walked into a restaurant and it was then that she realised that she couldn't talk. "I moved my mouth but words couldn’t come out. When I realised this, I just broke down. The staff at the restaurant offered me a seat. I couldn’t communicate. I thought about asking them the direction to my hotel, it was nearby - I couldn’t communicate that," she said.
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Lira says once she stopped crying and got herself together, she left the restaurant. It took her two hours to find her hotel.
"It was about 7pm when I got to my hotel - I couldn’t communicate with the receptionist so I just took a shower and tried to communicate via WhatsApp- but I could not type. The words made absolutely no sense to me. I couldn’t figure out what the letters meant and how to put them together," she wrote.
The SAMA award-winner managed to get a hold of "someone special" to her who was able to understand that she was not well.
Lira was taken to the hospital the next day where she learned that she suffered a stroke.
"I was shocked. I cried the whole day - and in the morning I accepted my situation."
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Lira was later diagnosed with aphasia- a language disorder caused by trauma to the brain. She was unable to talk for months but eventually got her voice back, though, her speech healing was slow.
Lira also started reading and writing again. Despite making significant progress over the past year, the 'Something Inside So Strong' singer is still unable to return to the stage.
That hasn't stopped her from remaining positive and doing her best to remain sane.
"I’m reflecting on the amount of fun I had in the last year. I spent it with loved ones , my family and my friends. There were no shows - I couldn’t work - so I was left with living life - happily. Thank you to all of you who prayed for me and kept me in your thoughts - I’m truly blessed," she wrote one day before her 44th birthday earlier this month.
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Main image credit: Instagram/@miss_lira