Our Mary had a stroke. We want you to know.

Dear friends,

I have something important and personal to share with you, and I want you to hear it from me directly.

Mary had a stroke last Tuesday at 7 p.m. as we sat down to dinner. She couldn't see Annie seated to her right and, as her eyes filled with terror, she couldn't get the words out to tell me what was wrong. The paramedics arrived quickly. While we were en route to our local hospital, she couldn't recognize the names of close friends.

As the ambulance drove with sirens blaring, I held her hand with one hand and with the other sent messages to as many people as I could reach - our book club, friends in Italy, my personal "prayer request" group on Messenger - and an urgent and cryptic Facebook post to family and friends: "Pray for Mary. In ambulance now. Please God."

Mary was having a severe stroke. The range of symptoms told the docs that more than one area of her brain was impacted.

While six doctors and nurses surrounded her gurney, I briefed two doctors about what had happened minutes ago, as well as what she had been going through with serious vestibular issues for the previous two months.

Mary had done a 50-minute workout in the pool at noon. She had arranged the flowers I brought home from Trader Joe's. She had set the table for dinner and lit the candles.

And then something went terribly wrong inside her beautiful brain.

But by the time we got inside the Emergency Department, miraculously, her brain, combined with all the prayers and decades of preventative, integrative medicine, started to fight back. It resolved the severe symptoms. She could see to the right again and was able to tell her own story to the assembled medical team.

Those were just the first minutes of these past ten days. What followed were CT scans. Ultrasounds. MRI confirming it was a stroke, not a TIA. Echocardiogram. Constant monitoring. Dissolving a dangerous clot in her brain. Cardiologists. Neurologists. Hospitalists. Amazing nurses. New meds. Nights in the hospital. The very same hospital she'd been born in. She was determined she had not returned to die.

Mary had sustained a severe stroke that thankfully had resolved itself to a small stroke. The doctors were stumped, dumbfounded, and amazed trying to figure out how her body had responded so quickly and thoroughly.

We remain so grateful for the prayers, the extraordinary medical care, and the love that permeated the whole experience.

It is normally Mary - our gifted writer, our wordsmith, our chief communicator - who writes you when the sisters have a big story to tell. It has been hard to find the time and harder still to find the words to tell you, our Duggan Sisters family, about what Mary and our 3-sister family have been going through.

If you've been with us a while, you know that Mary is the heart and soul of the Duggan Sisters. She is the visionary, the founder, the creator, the formulator, the storyteller, and the healer behind everything we are as a brand and as a business, but first and foremost, she is our beloved sister.

If you are a friend who supports our business or one of the many customers who have become friends, you know that Mary is the heart and soul of our family. We aren't ready to lose her, and THANK GOD, He wasn't ready to take her.

But Mary had a stroke. And despite the miraculous resolution of her major symptoms, she still has a lot of healing to do. She needs time and space for recovery. We're going to be seeing A LOT of new doctors in addition to reaching out for the wisdom of our trusted family physician.

Over the past 17 years, we have always taken you along for the ride. In good times and bad. Through scary diagnoses and holistic medical care to remission. From the Sharks to polar vortex electrical meltdowns. From catching career criminals to winning big pitch competitions. You've been with us through it all.

So, as we face this next challenging chapter, as a family and as a business, just as busy bug repellent season is kicking off, I'm once again asking for your support.

Everyone has been asking, "What can we do to help?" I humbly ask you to consider doing one or more of the following:

Pray. These 3 Irish-Catholic girls believe that all roads lead to God. We feel the love and prayers coming from friends of every faith tradition and the healing thoughts from the humanists. All prayers and healing vibes are welcome.
Purchase. As we adjust to this new reality and get Mary all the help she needs, Annie and I have struggled to keep all the business balls in the air. Mary comes first. But we still need to pay the bills and make payroll. Right now, it would really help if you could stock up on your lifestinks refills; get ready for summer with some fresh lifestings; or treat yourself to a healing smartsoak.
Pass it on. The greatest gift you can give our small business is to tell 10 people how much you love your lifestinks deodorant or lifestings bug repellent. We know many of you are already evangelists for all things Duggan Sisters. Please keep spreading the word. Or, better yet, send your loved one a sampler to get them started.

No matter what, know that we are eternally grateful to all of you for trusting us to be part of your daily personal routine and how you spend your hard-earned money.

Thank you for being our Duggan Sisters family.

With love always,

Clare Margaret

CEO + Baby Sister
April 2026