3-Rachel Groves and Ray Forsythe (Young Empowered Stroke Survivors)

Rachel Groves is originally from South Florida and moved to Orlando to go to University of Central Florida College of Nursing in 2002. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree as well as a Master’s Degree in Nursing from the University of Central Florida and is a practicing Nurse Practitioner. She is married with 2 children.
Rachel came to co-founding the YESS Foundation after she herself suffered a major bilateral cerebellar stroke at the age of 32 in June 2017. She came across another young stroke survivor (Ray Forsythe) who was also on his stroke recovery journey. Going through her own recovery and hours and weeks and months of therapy to gain back what was lost, Rachel can attest to the importance of early stroke assessment and action, early treatment, and the crucial role rehab and support for the patient and family play in recovery.
As a former bedside nurse, a Nurse Practitioner and recovering stroke survivor, she had a desire to giveback and use her knowledge and personal experience to help patients/families navigate a complicated and confusing system, to connect them to needed resources and get them the rehab and medical follow-up needed for the best potential recovery outcome. Rachel is excited to be part of YESS and looks forward to helping other stroke survivors in their own “come back strong” journey.