Laurel Kamada had a thriving career at a university in Tohoku before her life was turned upside-down one day in 2013.

The American-born lecturer suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke that affected the left side of her body and as a result she can now only walk very short distances using an ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) brace and cane. The rest of the time, she gets around by using a wheelchair.

The university she works for was refurbished to be wheelchair-friendly, but her doctor recommended that she not return to her workplace. That left Kamada without a job and dependent on her Japanese husband for care.