Bennett Media Group Presents: Surviving with Goodness-Anna’s Story (filmed 2019)
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Hi, I’m Spread Goodness Day founder Anna Dravland. This documentary tells you a little bit about the.. um, unexpected beginning of my nonprofit and the moment my changed my life forever. Thank you for your interest in my story. I hope that each of you joins in my passion to celebrate goodness & help make the future so, so bright.
Okay, here we go. In 2017, I had a career with Travel Marquette, a destination marketing organization for my hometown of Marquette County, MI. I flat out loved my job and the work I got to do. I planned to have a long term future there.
I posted my very first social post for this passion project, and nonprofit event, Spread Goodness Day on October 28, 2017. Dreams were coming true and I was loving where life was taking me! But, oh…there was a plot twist coming. The first of many.
Walking to work on November 16, 2017, I was unexpectedly and violently struck down by a rare stroke. My internal carotid artery tore in half releasing two blood clots to my brain. In a precious few moments, my life changed in a way that I never, ever could’ve seen coming.
I experienced temporary paralysis of my right side and lost my ability to speak, lights and noise were magnified by 1000 and agonizingly painful. I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t use my right side.. As I tried to speak, the sound was not even the same tone of my normal voice. The paralysis lasted about five days. Five days of trying to tell myself that I’d be OK if I never walk again. or dance or sing… WHOO. Let’s let’s just say brain injuries are really, really hard. That first day that my toe wiggled, one little wiggle, was the start of a miraculous recovery.
I have relearned to walk and talk but, lost my independence & working life to a variety of permanent damage. My stroke left a drastic variety of crippling symptoms that will be “managed” for the rest of my life. Since the stroke in late 2017, I returned to my job with blind optimism that my life would be my life again. My deficits forced me to tear my heart in half as I resigned from my job August 2018 and updated my career status to… disabled. Many efforts have been made to become self-sufficient with some version of work. It turns out that my job now is to not be sick. To stay stable. And let me tell you, it is not an easy job when your own body is the destabilizing factor.
But, immediately in my recovery, I found healing in goodness. So much love and kindness was poured onto to me it was humbling and is honestly unbelievable. My passion to keep Spread Goodness Day alive kept ME breathing. It kept me focused on a future that was still GOOD. It has all been so powerful in my recovery. Finding ways to spread goodness. So humbling to accept so much goodness. It become my own personal therapy as I extended that first invitation to the world to spread some goodness with me for the first Spread Goodness Day. People blew me away with their explosion of good & the creativity they brought to our community far beyond just my own.
But, my story doesn’t start or end with the stroke. As time passes, my message and life goal became about surviving with goodness. Finding good and filling the world with it. My own personal battle field of goodness to make the world a better place. To use the power of kindness to heal myself and our global community.
In the six years since, I’ve had a challenging variety of unrelated illnesses & crippling birth defects. Since 2019, I have had four abdominal surgeries. With two being extremely invasive. Each time, building my body back up to come alive again.
In July 2022, I traveled to the Cleveland Clinic to receive a lifesaving surgery for Intestinal Malrotation. It is a rare birth defect that eventually caused me to lose the ability to eat without causing violent pain. I was 95% medically anorexic for about seven months. My entire small intestine, large intestine & appendix were all smashed into the left side of side of my abdomen and pelvis. Years of issues eventually led to major surgery on August 2nd, 2022. I found help via Facebook, of all things, through fellow malrotation peers. I found the Intestinal Malrotation Foundation group and all they said was one thing: Go to Cleveland for the “Dr. K special”. (The affectionate nickname for the gut reconstruction procedure.) The Cleveland Clinic was the only team in the world that truly specializes in the condition. My surgeon, Dr. Kareem Abu-Elmagd, innovated the surgery & performed the first in 2018. He saves lives, including mine.
My very long recovery found me facing another intense challenge. The remaining 6 inches of my colon were non-functional and I lost the ability to eat again. For three more months, medical anorexia stripped me of every ounce of strength, fat & muscle I had in me.
I received surgery in late December 2023 to remove the remaining colon, remove scar tissue from the last three surgeries and place a stoma & feeding tube in my belly. Once again, Dr. Kareem Abu-Elmagd saved my life for a second time and helped me eat again! For our 2024 celebration and beyond, I am still slowly, but gratefully, recovering. Celebrating goodness and using it as a tool for my own survival & happiness. Gratitude is truly an insufficient word to describe my feelings each day I move forward in my recovery. As I write this, a smile curls my lips up with the joy that I get to celebrate life and a 8th year of changing the world on Spread Goodness Day. Spreading goodness every day but, celebrating it together with my community and across the country for this one special day.
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Wanna chat more?
I love sharing my message & various advocacy passions. I’m grateful for any opportunity to speak on a panel or podcast. Because of my brain injury and other health complications, I can only do quite simple format, straightforward verbal communication. I do not have the ability to memorize a presentation or really even organize one well enough to present it. My brain injury scrambled those eggs. But, I do will verbally & have a passion for sharing the power of goodness, advocacy for a variety of rare health conditions, invisible illness, disability, mental health and, no matter what, finding a way to survive with goodness. Please fill out the form below and I will contact you back as I am able. You can also email or call me directly at:
spreadgoodnessday@gmail.com
1-906-362-1689.
Thank you for being here to learn a little bit more about my life, story and passion for goodness. For me, it was never about just celebrating goodness on this one day. It was about empowering people to realize that they can change the world every single day with goodness. And that it feels GREAT.
Warmest, Anna Dravland
Read more about her story and how Spread Goodness Day came alive in the stories below.
Awards & Recognition
Official State of Michigan Event
Official City of Marquette, MI Event
Official City of Ishpeming, MI Event
Office City of Evansville, WI Event
Organization of the Year
Catalyst Award 2021
Daily Point of Light:
Stroke Survivor Inspires Through Spread Goodness Day Volunteerism
TV6 UPside Award
Seven Seals Award
Marquette Woman Smiles, Spreads Goodness After Stroke
Michigan Home & Lifestyle:
Out and About: Spread Goodness Day
Podcasts
NeuroNerds: Spreading & Surviving with Goodness
Simply Successful Kids feat Anna Dravland
The Melrose Show: Seastar of Goodness
Unbroken: Healing Through Storytelling with Madeleine Black.
Featured Blogs, Vlogs & Media Coverage
There’s a Virus Spreading (and it’s a good one)
The Luckiest Unlucky Girl In The World
Future Bright Thanks To Spread Goodness Day
First “Spread Goodness Day” Coming Up
Spread Goodness Day a Worthy Cause
…and so much more! Thank you for your interest and support. Please let us know if you have heard a story about Spread Goodness Day that isn’t listed. We love hearing from our supporters!
(We do not list every media mention. But we do enjoy sharing media to showcase the incredible impact the event is having on our community. & beyond.)