Award-winning singer and songwriter Lira took to Instagram to share her reflections on the one-year anniversary of her stroke.
She recently celebrated her 44th birthday and shared a string of gratitude posts.
On March 22, 2022, Lira suffered a stroke, which resulted in her loss of speech, while she was in Germany, where she was scheduled to perform.
The songstress, whose real name is Lerato Molapo, was later diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder caused by damage in a specific area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension.
She shared a clip of different videos of her in Germany and captioned it: “Today marks a year since I had a stroke.
“I was so happy to be in Germany, it had been three 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. I had seen a poster with the @nilslandgrenfunkunit featuring Moses and myself.
“I even saw the venue where we would’ve performed. I spent the whole afternoon walking.
“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.
“I walked into a restaurant but I 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.
“Once I stopped crying and got myself together, I left. It took me two hours to find my hotel.”
Lira said she arrived at the hotel at 7pm and couldn’t communicate with the receptionist.
“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.
“I managed to get a hold of someone special to me – and got them to understand that I wasn’t all right."
She adds: “23 March – Long story short – I fell asleep and in the morning my agent tried to reach me. She sent two people to my room and they figured out that I couldn’t speak.
“The German promoter came and called the ambulance. The paramedics couldn’t speak English and it’s only when I got to hospital that I found out that I had a stroke.
“Wow!!! I was shocked. I cried the whole day – and in the morning I accepted my situation.”
In another post, Lira shared more of her journey with followers and wrote about her healing process: “This was in April 2022. I was making progress. Continuing …
“I had aphasia – I couldn’t speak , or write or read. And I must say that I am lucky! Many people don’t come away with that!
“I had to learn speaking as a child , learning how to say each letter, and forming a sentence. I did so joyfully though, I had no anxiety, no stress – just peace and calm. I have made such huge progress and I gave a speech at my birthday party. 😅I’m almost there.
The post continues: “Thank you to all of you who kept me in your prayers and kept me in your good thoughts. You let your light shine for me.
“In the year that I’ve needed to learn how to speak – I’ve enjoyed listening 👂🏾 and the silence. I’ve learnt to be happier. I’ve learnt to enjoy the simple things. Life is a gift and I hope to celebrate the gift of life for many years 🙏🏾❤️💐.”
She concluded with the hashtags #LetThereBeLight #CelebratingLife