Sarah Jean Willett is a writer, historical researcher, and brain aneurysm survivor. She lives in Connecticut with her dreamy husband of thirty years, with whom she has three sons who have left the nest and are living their best lives despite the dodgy parenting they received.
Sarah Jean began her writing at an all-girls Catholic high school in the late 1980s when her English teacher was impressed by her work and encouraged her to keep at it. She studied English and Philosophy in college and wrote personal essays that delved into the most awkward moments of her adolescence.
A stay-at-home mother for over two decades who loved raising her three boys, working on home improvement projects, volunteering in her church and community, and supporting her husband in his career, she discovered the hard way that the relentless quest for achieving the ideal home, career, and family can lead to crisis.
In 2019, Sarah Jean survived a ruptured brain aneurysm and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Conscious throughout the ordeal, she recounts the details of her 17 days in the hospital in her upcoming memoir, Head Rush.
Her recovery lasted six months, and just when she thought she could go back to normal life, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. She had just started doing social media marketing for local urgent care clinics and worked quickly to keep the public informed of the rapidly changing circumstances. She also volunteered to create videos for her church to share online while everyone was at home.
As a historical researcher, Sarah Jean has been involved with the Witness Stones project and rewrote the Farmington Freedom Trail walking tour amid the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. In the tour, she portrays Charlotte Cowles, a young female activist who, in 1841, gave a first-hand account of the newly freed African Mende of the Amistad Case during their stay in Farmington, CT.
Sarah Jean is currently focused on sharing the story of her brain aneurysm, fundraising for the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, and spreading the joys of being alive.
“I am a human being, not a human doing. Don’t equate your self-worth with how well you do things in life.
You aren’t what you do. If you are what you do, then when you don’t—you aren’t.” – Dr. Wayne Dyer