Skyrim Grandma Shirley opens up about life after stroke: “Don’t give up on me”
GameumentarySkyrim’s Grandma Shirley opened up about her life after suffering a stroke and shared words of encouragement to concerned fans during an unboxing of a care package from Bethesda.
The beloved YouTuber recently revealed that the stroke made her lose her memories, mainly around the game she spends night and day on, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. But that hasn’t deterred the ‘Gaming Grandma’ from loading into the game she loves.
Her stroke was a scare to many in the Elder Scrolls community, who’ve been sending Shirley words of encouragement. Even the studio behind the legendary franchise sent her a care package for her to unpack as she gets better.
During the unboxing, Grandma Shirley gave a heartwarming update for her audience that’s gone a long way to reassure fans of her status.
Shirley has medical professionals such as therapists and doctors taking care of her, so for the most part she’s doing just fine after the stroke.
“I’m fine except for these few little niggling things I can’t remember,” she said. “And most of that has finally been overcome and I can remember now. Except in playing Skyrim.
“I don’t know why, unless it was because that was the thing I played every day, and played it off-camera everyday for several years. It’s been the biggest thing of my life. And so while I was sleeping, that, of course, had to be the one thing that got whacked.”
Though her memories are largely coming back, she said that much of her recollection on Skyrim has yet to come back. But she’s not waiting for them to return.
“Even if I don’t get my memories back for how to play this game, it doesn’t matter because I can start Skyrim all over again and work with what I know,” she said.” So it’s going to be okay.
“Don’t any of you give up on me because it’s going to be okay. I said so, I believe so.”
(Timestamp at 15:03 for mobile viewers)
With the help of her son’s extensive Skyrim notes for Shirley to follow, the YouTuber is confident and eager to get back into TES:V. Even if that means starting fresh from the beginning.
“Maybe one of these days, soon, I will start Skyrim brand-new all over,” Shirley said. “With a new character. Start the story from the beginning and just see how it goes. I hope you’ll go along with me.”