It’s the simplest things in life that matter.”

Jordan McDonald was just 20 years old when a series of strokes nearly took her life. While facing a long and scary road to recovery, she learned that her addiction had taken a toll on her young body and accelerated the progress of a rare, and often deadly, genetic disorder. Though McDonald’s struggle with addiction was not yet over, she carried a photo from near the end of her months-long hospital stay with her at all times as a reminder of her own strength. In that photo, which she describes in this episode of Strong Woman, she is wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, her hair twisted into a smooth French braid. She stands independently, leaning over a sink in a hospital room filled with machines and a rumpled bed, a toothbrush in her mouth and a wide smile on her face.