On December 9, 2024, Anna Gray came home after doing a class at CrossFit Lynchburg in Lynchburg, VA, to find her 29-year-old husband with a facial droop, unable to use the right side of his body.
- “Thankfully, he was alive when I found him, and I was able to get him in the car and to the ER,” Gray said.
Her husband, TJ Vaught, a CrossFit coach at CrossFit Lynchburg, had suffered two strokes and underwent emergency surgery on his brain to remove three blood clots.
The surgery went well, and doctors are hopeful Vaught will make a full recovery; however, Gray said he will need some “pretty intense speech therapy,” and the recovery timeline is unknown.
Gray credits CrossFit with how quickly Vaught has been able to recover physically.
- “He doesn’t even need physical therapy. I feel like he could go workout and be OK, but because he did have surgery, it’s more about making sure all the incision points are healed enough [before he goes back to the gym],” she said. “He wouldn’t be where he is without being so fit beforehand.”
The most challenging part right now is his communication abilities.
- “He knows what he’s trying to say, but words aren’t coming out correctly. He can read, but not out loud, so communication is difficult,” Gray said.
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One Big Thing
Gray works for a small nonprofit organization, and Vaught is a student who was about to graduate and become a teacher, so the couple doesn’t have adequate medical insurance to cover the rising costs.
- The 5 a.m. class, one of the early-morning classes that Vaught coaches at CrossFit Lynchburg, quickly stepped up and set up a GoFundMe page, which had raised a little more than $21,000 at the time of publishing.
But bills are rising, and Gray said the couple is in “a pretty tough spot.”
The Big Picture
Now more than ever, Gray is thankful they have CrossFit in their lives. Not only is it the reason she believes Vaught is doing as well as he is, but it is also her only escape from the stress at the moment.
- “I have been able to have some people come over because he can’t be alone, so I can go to the gym and work off some steam and stress,” Gray said. “And the community has been really supportive through all this.”
As for Vaughn, he is already thinking about getting back to the gym as soon as possible.
- “He wants to be there. Right now, he’s having brain fog, and he’s tired. He has to work extra hard to communicate and interact with people. But he will be back,” she said.
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Featured image: CrossFit Lynchburg
