Astrid Hendren is the author of Surviving Lasts a Lifetime: A Parent's Journey through Medical Trauma, a memoir of her traumatic, near-death experience when she suffered a massive stroke after a brain aneurysm ruptured at the age of 32. After surviving against all odds, she began a journey of recovery to overcome intense pain, loneliness and the fear that her children could be left without a mother. Through sheer grit and determination she developed new ways to parent and cope as her life as she knew it was changed forever.