Orlena
As a double brain surgery Moyamoya Stroke survivor and former technology licensing in-house attorney, Orlena seeks to provide a new voice in healthcare keynotes, workshops, and panels, championing positivity with a “Mind over Matter” mindset, to inspire global audiences to take on life’s challenges in order to live your best life.
Background
Orlena is a former in-house open source software technology licensing attorney double brain surgery stroke survival patient turned inspirational speaker and author, raising awareness about rare brain disease and stroke survival in the San Francisco Bay Area. Orlena graduated from from the University of California, San Diego. After studying abroad at Beijing University in the summer of 1999, she received her Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University School of Law in 2003, practicing as a Software Technology Licensing Attorney until the end of 2011.
After experiencing a major hemorrhagic stroke in late 2011 due to a rare congenital condition called Moyamoya Disease, Orlena put her law career on hold to focus on rehab and her family.
Despite having a rare brain disease that affects only less than 1 in 100,000 and being physically compromised with hemiparesis, Orlena’s mind is strong and she is able to go out into her community to raise awareness about rare brain disease and to give others hope for life after stroke. When Orlena lost control of her car while driving her then 21 month old daughter 10 years ago, from a stroke due a rare disease called Moyamoya, when she awakened from her medically induced coma about 6 weeks later, she was enveloped in a world that was familiar, but that would never be the same.
Ten years later, after two brain surgeries, the loss of both of her dear parents, the birth of her son and the endearing love of her husband and family have evoked Orlena's emergence from the smoke.
In addition to serving on the Board for her children's schools, Orlena is also a Board Advisor for Grupology, and a member of the Burlingame Aquatic Club Boosters. Orlena, her husband, and their two young children reside in the San Francisco Bay Area.