SHERBROOKE — It didn’t take long for J.J. Foster to realize that she wanted to make her summer visit with a friend here an extended one.
“I didn’t want to leave. I loved it so much,” she said, in describing how she quickly embraced her adopted home, one that she described as “the most amazing place on Earth.”
Not that she needed any, but her love for the historic village in the Municipality of the District of St. Mary’s was further cemented a week ago when a joyous part of her daily routine since arriving suddenly took a life-threatening turn.
“I collapsed at some point,” Foster told The Journal from her room at St. Martha’s Regional Hospital, where she is recovering from a stroke that she suffered while out for a run with her beloved dog, Squid, on Oct. 8.
She added, “I was gone.”
Foster remembers little else of that fateful morning, other than feeling light-headed after her “cold dip” in the St. Mary’s River – a key element of that regular excursion – and speaking on the phone with her son.
“She held me in her arms,” she noted of waking up in the caring embrace of one of the people who came to her rescue.
That group of guardian angels included a nurse, who administered CPR.
“There are no words to express my gratitude and love for the many kind strangers who found me and saved my life,” Foster said in a social media post on the Sherbrooke and Area Facebook page she penned a day or so after her medical emergency.
She stressed that she would never have been able to get through this ordeal without the “amazing humans,” as Foster described them in her post, including those that are providing Squid – a three-year-old wire terrier and Chihuahua mix that she quipped her daughter “gifted” to her at seven weeks old –with “comfort and shelter.”
Foster “can’t wait to meet everyone” who helped her, so she can thank them personally.
“I’ll hug you too long and hold you in my heart forever, with every breath I take. Because I can. Because of you,” she said, echoing her Facebook message.
Foster added, “I am so grateful, my children are so grateful.”
As for her newly started road to recovery, the native of northern Ontario – who arrived in Sherbrooke from her home in Vancouver in August – there will be plenty of rehabilitation, including speech therapy.
“The bright side is no one has to put up with my incessant chatter,” Foster offered, with a laugh.
When it comes to the end goals, she explained, “Hopefully, independent living, but that might not be an option. So, I am not sure what will happen. Time will tell.”
Noting that she is “not really sure what’s next,” Foster did guarantee she will be walking – maybe not running – through Sherbrooke.
“Because I will walk,” she said.
There will also be more chances to hug her children and, once again, take those aforementioned watery plunges.
Foster added she will be able to do those things – and so many others – because Sherbrooke Village is the “village of life.”
“People instantly love and care for you – without fail,” she offered of the most endearing aspect of this “incredibly beautiful place.”
Foster continued, “They treat you like family.”
Along with her recovery, she wants to focus on bringing an ambulance to St. Mary’s; one that is there 24 hours a day; one that can be used by local first responders and equipped for dealing with medical emergencies.
“It’s a long shot, but a worthwhile endeavor,” Foster said, noting that the vehicle could serve surrounding communities in Guysborough County.
She plans to couple her recovery and advocacy with revisiting cherished locales, including Port Hilford Beach, which she described as “one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen.”
“Running might not be for a very long time, if ever, but I will have that beach sand between my toes again,” Foster said.
Despite the many hurdles she will have to clear, she added, “I just try to stay positive, pray and cry a lot.”
And, of course, taking comfort from living in Sherbrooke, such a “very special place.”
“Now, more than ever, I still hope to make it my forever home,” Foster said.