JOIN THE RANT: Young Scottish Ph.D. candidate/inventor; a reality every American should have too

I met a Scottish Ph.D. Candidate/Inventor in DC, who tested a robot on my daughter’s hand to aid in her stroke recovery. She is proof there is a better economic system.

Stephanie Ruhle checks her own

Those who follow my blog and radio programs know that my daughter, Ashley, recently suffered her second stroke. I moved temporarily to DC to take of her during her recovery. She got her first stroke during her third year of medical school, lost half her vision, and had a severe foot drop.

Even with the stroke, Ashley fought hard to graduate on time. All the while, she was fighting the effects of the radiation from the CyberKnife used to neutralize her inoperable arterial venus malformation (AVM). It left her left side virtually paralyzed. She did everything one-handed. I am in complete awe of what she accomplished with virtually no complaining. She would ultimately have to postpone her graduation by six months.

Fate was not kind as she got a second stroke apparently when the AVM collapsed three months before her updated graduation. We wanted the collapse but without the bleed, a hemorrhagic stroke.

Ashley spent ten days in the ICU near death as her brain kept swelling. The excellent neurological team led by Dr. Jeffrey Ching-Kwei Mai was astounding as they brought my daughter back from the brink. My daughter subsequently spent three weeks in inpatient rehab and is now doing outpatient rehab several times a week.

I see the hospital and doctor’s bills as I check Ashley’s mail. They are north of $300,000. While I paid for all of Ashley’s undergrad school, she took out loans for medical school. These are north of $250,000.

There is a particular reason why I point out the above numbers. When Ashley got out of most of the ICU/Hospital fog, as she laid in bed in inpatient rehab, she was extremely depressed to the point of tears. It broke my heart to my core.

“Dad,” Ashley said. “This another setback. How can I recover from this? I have all these bills for medical school and may not even be able to become a doctor with my condition. And what about this hospital bill? It will be outrageous.”

The first thing I told her was to cease worrying about those issues. Every problem has an answer. She said she is three months away and still wants to be a doctor. I told her then that she should fight for knowing there is more than one way to accomplish tasks. I reminded her that as a political activist working for pay-it-forward college and Medicare For All, her unexpected and unfortunate situation is why everyone should support those policies.

Melissa, the Scottish Ph.D. candidate/inventor, asked my daughter to be one of the test subjects for her invention that helps stroke victims recover finger movement and control. She completed her dissertation with my daughter’s test.

Both my daughter and I enjoyed speaking to this 28-year-old researcher from Scotland. She told us her entire story from high school to Ph.D. And her story is one we should wish for every American.

Melissa comes from a large working-class family in Scotland. Not one of them went to college. In her senior year, the Scottish government implemented free college. Remember, Scotland wanted to secede from the UK because they were more progressive and wanted to stay in the European Union.

As I explained in the rant in the video clip, Melissa had no idea she would have liked college. But because she had an opportunity outside of her basal reality — she did not have to worry about affordability — Melissa found out she loved it and blossomed into a productive inventor that will give back so much more to society than the initial investment in her.

Melissa wanted to make it clear that Scotland was no England.

“Yes, they have the National Health Service (NHS),” Melissa said. “But we do it right. We cover, medicines too unlike England.”

My daughter knew what she wanted to do for a large part of her life. She planned. But fate made her path more difficult. Our policies make Ashley’s path to recovery difficult, stressful, and unfair, given that her fork healthwise and financial was not her fault. Melissa did not plan. She had choices. If Melissa had suffered Ashley’s fate, her only worry would be recovery, knowing that she could get back on the right path because Scotland governs as a humane society.

I wish most Americans did not buy into the false messaging. They defend those who rob them as they demean many who have just had dire fates.

I wrote three books that each standalone, but as a series is (1) Explanation of our economic system and its flaw, (2) How we can convince those on the Right to join us, (3) What our society should be. I wrote them both to illustrate and subsidize our radio program pushing the progressive movement and policies.

My daughter started a new medium publication detailing her strokes and the ups and down it puts one through. It is very inspiring but also authentic as she lets it all out. I would appreciate it if you would read her articles. And give her a few claps if you like them. Most importantly, she needs 100+ followers on medium to open her up for a few pennies. So if you have the wherewithal to do so, please read, clap, and follow her here.