For all its glittering holier-than-thou veneer, Shannan Click is one  patient who has seen the dark side of health’s new golden child. A  successful model who has walked the coveted Victoria’s Secret runway and  whose ethereal poise has commanded campaigns for the likes of Armani  and Cartier, Click recently shot with Pierre Toussaint for the first  time since a harrowing ordeal left her perilously close to permanent  brain damage. A ‘mom’ of two and keen yogi, Click had been experiencing  persistent neck pain and, hoping to remedy it naturally, opted to heed  the advice of a friend and pay a visit to a renowned pain relief centre  in downtown Beverly Hills. Upon entering she was met by her  chiropractor, who at first impression, appeared more used car salesman  than medical professional, telling her ‘the massage from our day spa is  an absolute must..’Bemused but not discouraged, Click trusted the  process. This was no dive after all, hell, the establishment’s glitzy  website flaunted testimonials from the likes of Paris Hilton and Quentin  Tarantino (side-note: this is Hollywood). With one swift manipulation  of the neck, Click’s vision became blurred, she was dizzy and lost  control of her right eye. Heart leaping from her chest, she alerted her  manipulator that something wasn’t right. The chiropractor’s first  response? A Google search (“brain damage”). Shortly thereafter, Click  was scuttled out the back entrance wherein a clumsy parade of the  offending chiropractor’s specialist cronies ensued, each as clueless as  the next. Finally, Click’s boyfriend, Boardwalk Empire star and nephew  of Angelica Huston no less, Jack Huston came to the rescue, rushing her  to Cedars-Sinai where it was confirmed she was in the throes of a  stroke. A stroke is where the blood supply to the brain is interrupted  and there is a four hour window where patients can be given Alteplase IV  r-tPA to dissolve the clot before permanent brain damage takes hold.  Click received this life-saving dose within a matter of minutes of that  deadline.
It  turns out the resounding crack of Click’s neck was the dissection of a  cervical artery (a.k.a a torn artery) which precipitated the stroke. A  similar sequence of events spelled a tragic ending for Playboy model  Katie May who sustained a fatal injury in February 2016 from a neck  manipulation. According to the Harvard Medical Journal these affect two  in 100,000 people per year, but are also the most common cause of  strokes in people under the age of 50. Hyperextension from chiropractic  manipulation, weightlifting, yoga and even having your hair washed at  the hairdresser are all known to have been triggers. While Click was  fortunate to suffer no permanent physiological damage, the aftermath saw  her experience panic attacks and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In a  curious circle of events, in seeking natural pain relief, she was left  in greater physical and emotional pain, and then prescribed heavy  synthetic antidepressants and tranquilizers such as Lexapro and Xanax to  cope with the trauma, with these medications only exacerbating her  suffering. Ultimately, Click took her healing into her own hands turning  to meditation and mindfulness to navigate her symptoms which proved a  far more potent remedy than the cocktail of prescriptions. A year on and  from the rear-view mirror, Click’s paradigm shift is, at its heart,  more positive than at first glance.
Armed with a new clarity,  Click was able to see both the poetry, and the irony of her experience.  The neck by design is our flaw; a life line that bridges the brain to  the body, our weakest point and yet it exerts so much influence. In a  fitting parallel, it was through Click’s period of vulnerability and  distress that she gathered an unprecedented sense of strength and calm.  On that fateful day, Click was seeking a realignment, but little did she  know this bittersweet turning point would instead recalibrate her  perspective, her priorities and, naturally, her life.