Milwaukee woman shares recovery after rare Moyamoya disease diagnosis, multiple strokes
CBS 58 MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — Alysha Botsford is moving through life with a new state of mind.
This month marks two years since she left the hospital following a medical journey she describes as a whirlwind.
"Every day is a gift, really," Botsford said. "It was all very fast."
It started in the spring of 2024, when Botsford suddenly felt dizzy while at the gym.
"I went to go pick up my kiddo from the daycare and started to have funny speech. I couldn't get the words out right," she explained.
Daycare staff called an ambulance, and at the emergency room, Botsford learned she had suffered a stroke.
"How could I be having a stroke? I was only 35 years old," she remembered thinking.
After a series of tests, Botsford was diagnosed with a rare neurological condition.
"I had this history of what doctors were telling me were migraine headaches," she explained. "Come to find out that all of these symptoms over the past 20 years were actually related to Moyamoya disease."
Moyamoya disease causes blood vessels in the brain to narrow. About 2,500 people are diagnosed with the condition in the United States each year.
"After being undiagnosed for so long, my body couldn't take it, and the vessel burst," Botsford said. "No one knew about Moyamoya in my family. No one, as far as we know, has any history of it."
Even as a registered nurse, Botsford had never heard of the disease.
She was referred to Dr. Mustafa Baskaya at UW Health, who specializes in Moyamoya disease and studied in Japan to master the complex surgery used to treat it.
"The surgery we call cerebral revascularization," Baskaya explained. "It means brain revascularization — creating the new vessels for the brain."
Baskaya performed the surgery twice on Botsford, treating each side of her brain.
Four days after the second surgery, Botsford suffered another stroke. Her doctor told her it is a known complication of the procedure.
"In Moyamoya patients, vessels are very fragile, very small and very reactive to any kind of surgical manipulations," Baskaya said.
The stroke meant Botsford needed a third surgery to reduce swelling in her brain. She was also placed in a medically induced coma to prevent seizures.
"It did require a lot of recovery afterward," Botsford said.
After three weeks, she was able to transition to outpatient rehabilitation.
Botsford returned home to Milwaukee to continue healing with her family and her son, who was 2 years old at the time.
"A lot of the past two years have just been getting back to being me, and being a mom, and being a nurse," she explained.
After three months, Botsford was able to return to work. So far, she said she is feeling great.
"When you see them happy, returned to work — the best indicator of the successful treatment," Baskaya said.
Botsford is optimistic about a healthy future and has been educating others about Moyamoya disease.
"The point of the bypass surgery is to prevent further strokes from happening," she said.
She encourages others to advocate for their health and wants people going through similar experiences to know they are not alone.
"There are different paths to recovery for everybody, but there is life after stroke, and there is support," Botsford said.
An extended version of this story will air on CBS 58 Sunday Morning later this month.
