About Brandon
The man who survived everything — and is still becoming.
In October 2019, Brandon Watson was a Business Development Manager at the top of his career — sharp, fluid, flying all over the world. Then he was brushing his teeth at night, and the world split open.
An aortic dissection. Multiple strokes. Three days unconscious. Twelve hours of surgery. His body cooled, his chest opened, his voice paralyzed. He came out weighing 160 pounds, right side paralyzed, learning to wiggle a thumb.
What followed wasn't a comeback. It was something harder and more honest: a complete reinvention from the inside out. Through AdventHealth outpatient rehab, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and sheer stubborn presence — Brandon stacked wins. Thumb to chopsticks. Chopsticks to dry beans. Dry beans to a 5K with his sons.
Today Brandon Watson is a Certified Recovery Peer Specialist, an aortic advocate with the John Ritter Foundation, an emerging public speaker, and a memoirist. He carries the philosophy he discovered in the wreckage into every room he enters.
Bow. Stay. Go. In that order. Always.
The Road
Oct 2019
The Dissection
Aortic dissection and multiple strokes. Three days unconscious. Twelve hours of surgery. Came out at 160 lbs, right side paralyzed, voice gone.
2020–21
The Long Rebuild
AdventHealth outpatient rehab. PT Kyle Reedy. SLP Jennifer Campbell. New Year's Day vocal cord surgery. Stacking wins: thumb wiggling → chopsticks → dry beans → 5K with his sons.
2024
The Breaking Point
A year of unmanageable life. Job losses. A Baker Act. Wake up inside a room with smoothed corners — the first memory of how to be still. Six months at Lifeskills.
2025
The Emergence
Sobriety. Vivistim treatment — perfect 66/66 on the Fugl-Meyer scale. Sponsorship through AA. The philosophy named. The book begun.
2026
Still Becoming
CRPS certification. Recovery Connections of Central Florida. UCF LIFE Program. John Ritter Foundation. The book. The site. The next moment being stacked.
May 2026
Stroke Onward Speakers Bureau
Invited to join the Stroke Onward national Speakers Bureau following a meeting with CEO Liz Wolfson. One of the first speakers selected as the bureau launched. Speaking to stroke survivors, families, and healthcare professionals through the Stroke Onward Community Circle and beyond.