Photography by Tanner Garza
Stoicism: an ancient philosophy that teaches how to live well in the face of adversity and uncertainty. Neighbor Francis Zalace, who lost her limbs due to a catastrophic illness, can teach you something about this approach to life. Her story is a master class in resilience, happiness and wisdom.
It was toward the end of February 2024 when 41-year-old Francis began to feel a bit “off,” as she recalls, “a little tired.” She chalked it up to her busy lifestyle juggling a full-time elementary school music teaching position, being a single mom to her three kids, and doing gigs as an in-demand balloon artist.
The day before her life changed, she had pushed through the fatigue and done a couple of balloon gigs, then attended a stand-up comedy show with her boyfriend. But she was feeling worse the following day and went to an urgent care facility for flu symptoms and breathing difficulties. Diagnosed with viral and bacterial pneumonia and a dangerously low oxygen level, she was sent by ambulance to a hospital emergency room where she took a turn.
“I fell into a 10-day coma,” Francis recounts, “and when I woke up, my extremities had suffered necrosis as a side effect of the vasopressors that were keeping me alive.” A quadruple amputation was necessary to clear away the necrotic tissue: her legs below the thigh, her arms just above the wrist. It was the only choice to save her life.
Over the next four months, she had two to three surgeries per week, plus ongoing physical therapy. Eight months total passed before she was finally discharged from the hospital and went home to be cared for primarily by family. “I’m still in the process of regaining my full autonomy so in the meantime my current new normal is being attended to by my daughter as my mother continues to handle logistics and bureaucracy related to my care.”
Over time, through physical therapy and an amazingly positive attitude, Francis has made progress adjusting to her new life. She lists milestones such as coming off her feeding tube and tracheotomy, feeding herself, rolling over and sitting up, getting out of bed and sitting in a wheelchair, driving her motorized wheelchair, and transferring into a car to ride in a regular car seat.
No, it hasn’t been easy. But Francis was strong mentally to begin with. “I’ve always been a relatively optimistic person, but I think an interest I took up in stoicism not long before I ended up in the hospital helped with my mindset during the more challenging moments,” she says, and explains the basic tenet. “We may not have control over what happens to us but we can control our response.”
Francis has resumed many of her pre-illness activities: dates with her boyfriend, movies, visiting the mall. During the holidays, she visited the Arboretum to take a festive photo with Santa.
Music, too, is back in her life. Though not yet back in her music classroom, she has been doggedly determined to make music again and experiments with various percussive instruments. “It’s definitely my priority to play again.” So far, she has found success with the steel tongue drum, which is played with mallets. Francis discovered that she could strap the mallets onto her arms and play the drum, and she also discovered that she could play the black keys of the piano with mallets.
And, of course, she has her voice. Shortly after being released from the hospital, Francis returned to her church, First Unitarian Church of Dallas, to attend Sunday services and sing in the choir. Her routine now includes weekly choir practice.
Ever the optimist, Francis has an eye to the future. She is in the process of preparing for arm and leg prosthetics. She hopes to return to her classroom at Clinton P. Russell Elementary School. She dreams of being a motivational speaker, especially for children, with abilities as a focus.
And she wants to educate anyone and everyone about her situation, inspiring her to start a YouTube channel on the first anniversary of her hospitalization
(youtube.com/@zombieeteddybear). “I’m grateful for the opportunity to educate others and help normalize people with disabilities living life to the fullest,” she says. “I like to encourage dialogue. I welcome questions from strangers.” She has received questions and comments from as far away as Canada and South Africa, and embraces her growing “global community.”
In her various videos and shorts, Francis describes how she ended up in the hospital, the day she woke up from the coma, and what she remembers from her coma: vivid, bizarre dreams that reflected her reality.
She also addresses her day to day life and demonstrates how she gets into and out of bed, how she transfers into her wheelchair, and how she feeds herself with specialized utensils.
In these videos, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find plenty of levity. “I have a tendency to find the humor in things, so there’s plenty of joking around.” She titled one of her videos “Look Ma, No Hands!” In the video, a split screen has Francis eating chocolate, breaking up an orange into sections, uncapping and drinking from a bottle, picking up her phone and sending a text. Meanwhile, her mom gamely tries, with much difficulty, to approximate the same action without using her hands.
Francis has a message for the world: “Being disabled isn’t a bad thing- — it’s just a thing,” she smiles. “Stay focused on what you can do and you’ll find a way to do what you want to do. Use everything you’re given as fuel, no matter what it is.”
