Emerging from the Smoke: A Collection of Warrior Voices

By Orlena Fong Shek

“In late 2011, Orlena experienced a massive hemorrhagic stroke while driving her then twenty-one month old daughter on the freeway. It was then that her Moyamoya diagnosis came to light. After an extended ICU stay and acute rehab hospitalization throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Orlena came home for Mother’s Day. At that point, she put her law career on hold to focus on her rehab and her family. She is now an author and speaker in the community, raising awareness about rare brain disease, proving that not only can you survive stroke, but that you can also thrive and inspire others.”

“On the 10th anniversary of her stroke due to Moyamoya Disease, a rare congenital condition named “puff of smoke” in Japanese, Orlena Fong Shek has now banded with twenty other survivors who have “emerged from the smoke” as warriors, bringing to light poetry from the heart and soul of their collective survival. These poems of hope and endurance will empower you to find your inner strength to get up, to walk, and even to run, but ultimately, to never give up.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: May 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665717212

Orlena Fong Shek

Orlena grew up in Los Altos Hills, graduating with honors in Philosophy and a minor in Chinese History from the University of California, San Diego. Post graduation, she studied abroad at Peking University for a transformative summer where she explored her family history in her parents’ hometown of Shanghai. She then received her Juris Doctor from the Santa Clara University School of Law in 2003 and practiced as an in-house technology licensing attorney until the end of 2011. She resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and their two children. Please visit www.OrlenaShek.com for more information

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