Sept 5, 2009, at 39 yr old Army Vet and Collegiate Athlete thought he was invincible. I thought I could take everyone else's problems, put them on my shoulder, and NOT take care of myself in the meantime. I was wrong. My 4 month old newborn daughter woke me up approximately 2 o'clock in morning with me feeling dizzy, slurred speech and unable to move the left side of my body. I didn't know what was going on and blew it off. Woke up the next morning with still some numbness and was told by mother that I may have had a stroke in the middle of the night so I decided to go the emergency room... I found out that I had not one, but two strokes... One was a few weeks earlier when my left arm went numb and I blew it off as carpal tunnel syndrome. Two months later, I'm almost fully functional... and blessed... I mean really blessed... Slight numbness on my left arm, with slight blurriness (perception problem) with my vision... It's very early in the process and I'm sure that my symptoms will eventually be completely healed... My initial response was why me? My response now is thank you for letting me live another day.. Keep your head up, and know that this is what was to happen in your life..

In June 2009 2 weeks after my child's 2nd birthday. I had a stroke at the age of 29! It was very hard at first to cope with this healthy 1 minute and disabled the next. I was unable to move my right side and a week into my hospital stay I collapsed with OT and quiet breathing and they told me I needed a pacemaker. I am still going to therapy and docs say I will make a complete recovery. I can't wait for that day for myself,my daughter and my husband.

Please do not take stroke symptoms lightly. I just lost my beautiful Mother, Jeannette Ann Davidson McCallum to a sudden, unexpected stroke. Her amazing life was cut short 4 days ago (11/2/1949 - 8/27/2009). I will never hear her beautiful laugh, smell the delicious baking that she was famous for or be able to look into her sky blue eyes. Cherish who you have, and remember those that we have lost. My Mother was only 59 years old...

I am a 38 year old female and I just suffered a TIA. Very scary for me and my family. Luckily my 17 year old son had studied the symptoms in school. He was able to call EMS for me.

I'm 61, I have had two strokes. The first one wasn't so bad, though I was in the hospital over six weeks.
And the next one was worse, especially when you been a public speaker, we had just talked about sending out some fliers. So then, I couldn't talk.
So I'm, learning to talk.

So sorry to here of your loss. Hope the days to come will bring serenity.
Stay close to each other.

Happy 72nd Birthday Dad!
Shortly after retiring in 1999, my Father had back-to-back open-heart surgeries in a three month period, with mild heart attacks occuring during each procedure. A year later, he suffered a stroke, but not only survived but thrives due to the quick response by my Mom, the local EMS, the emergency room staff, and the rehabilitation staff.
Ten years later, he continues to remind us of God's miracles and blessings!

In memory of Uncle Ralph.
He was a giving man who served the public as a firefighter, a Son who cared for his mother for many years and always provided for his own family.
He will be remembered as a truly peaceful, loving, and kind individual.
May he finally rest in peace!

In memory of Uncle Ralph.
He was a giving man who served the public as a firefighter, a Son who cared for his mother for many years and always provided for his own family.
He will be remembered as a truly peaceful, loving, and kind individual.
May he finally rest in peace!

Hi, my mother was a victim of stroke, she passed away in 2001. I miss her every day and hate that she died of a disease that we do not have all the answers for yet. I am at risk for the disease due to high blood pressure that I have, and possibility of heart disease (hereditary from mom and dad). I hope they find a way to minimize the effects of stroke or keep them from happening completely.

I am 48 years old female. My stroke happened August 31, 2008. I was at work when it happened. Five days in ICU, rehab & a year later I am better then I was August 2008.
The doctors said I had a PFO (patent foramen ovale) that was in my heart for when I was newborn. With the heart surgery they fixed it. A year later I have some speech difficulties read & comphrensive difficulties for I am blessed.

On 2-22-02 my daughter, who was 9 at the time, suffered a hemmoraghic stroke. She was life flighted to Wichita Kansas. After an emergency craniotomy where they removed over a half a liter of blood from her brain and clamped 2 vessels and a month in the hospital she came home. They said it was very unlikely that she would walk again. She fooled them all. She walked out of the hospital, with the help of crutches. She will be 16 in this year. She walks with a slight limp and still carries her left arm funny. The biggest change is her impulse control and her major mood swings but we have all learned to be a little more tollerant and thank God every day that she is here with us.

I had a hemmoraghic stroke in November '06. I was 46. I had just had a hysterectomy in September and gone back to work. In 5 weeks, I started having intense headaches that curled me into a fetal position and felt like a ballbat to the back of my neck. It took from Monday to Friday for the stroke to hit completely. I lost my right arm, but after 2 months of therapy I got everything back except for my forefinger fingertip. I was on BP meds, but there's still no explanation for why it happened. I am athletic, and had already lost 25 lbs. due to surgery. I can tell you this...it will get better, and the anxiety will ease eventually. And after you make it to the other side, you'll realize how special life is and how merciful God is. If it weren't for my faith, I would've given up.

Hi, I am a 29 year old female. On March 22, 2009, I suffered an ischemic stroke. I am active and healthy. I am not over weight. I don't drink or smoke. My cholesterol is low and so is my blood pressure. I am a 3rd grade teacher, an it was very difficult for me not to be able to write. I had lef-sided weakness. Thank God to a wonderful team of therapists at my rehab center, I was able to fully recover. We need to research the causes of this "silent killer" and put an end to it.

I am a 27 year old healthy female who had a hemorraghic stroke October 8th, 2008. About 7 months later I am very lucky that I am here and not suffering from any serious side effect. I was at work and was taken to the ER by ambulance where they were not sure if I was going to make it, I had a hole drilled into my head to monitor my ICP and do not remember those 3 weeks in the NICU of my life. I left the hospital with double vision. To this day, I have a slight vision impairment and bad balance, but I am lucky to be alive. Although I was on the NuvaRing(a form of birth control) by Neurosurgeon is not sure what caused my stroke. I hope that one day we will be able to figure it out, since it can happen to anyone. I am healthy, physically fit and I don't have any stroke causes. I hope that donations will provide an answer to this scary, deadly condition.

I was 39 years old when I had my stroke in August 08. I was blessed to just have lost a small amount of vision but left me with severe anxiety!It seems that there are many of us on this page fairly young, I also was very healthy, healthy diet, good cholesterol, low blood pressure, I think that's why I suffer with the anxiety as it just dose'nt make sense. The medical care I have had from Sunrise Hospital, Las Vegas has been outstanding but nobody understands the emotional care needed after such a scary thing to happen at any age. With a four year old son I am truly grateful for my stroke being mild and am thankful everyday to watch my beautiful son grow up. My heart and love is with you all x

I am a 52 year old Dad and Grandpa.2 years post stroke I have gone from last rites to writting and publishing my book about stroke Are You Ready? on Amazon . com or http://www.philiphanaburgh.com come take the journey of my sudden stroke and the first eight months after.for survivors care givers and families

I am a 31 y/o female. Generally healthy and do not fit in to any of the main risk factors for stroke (i.e - high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol). However, when on vacation with my husband and 2 children last month (3/28/09), I suffered a stroke. I am still in the process of doing different tests with my doctors and specialists, but am fortunate and thankful to be blessed enough that I have had a full recovery with no permanent side effects, besides hightened anxiety. I always thought of stroke as being something that happened to the elderly and never really thought about it happening to me or any one in my family, nor had I ever educated myself about stroke before my incident. I just wanted to share my story for awareness that anyone can be at risk for stroke and to take all precautionary measures to keep yourself and loved ones from having one. My doctors believe that my blood clot which caused my ischemic stroke to be due to the horomones in birth control pills. So please, educate and inform yourself, family and friends to seriously pay attention to "risk factors" associated with medications and all other risk factors as well. Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

After 24 hours of labor, my husband turned to me and said, IT'S A BOY! I couldn't believe that my first child was a boy. My dream had come true. Connor Michael Bissonnette entered this world March 28th, 2005 at St. Mary's Hospital in Lewiston ME. He looked like every baby I had ever seen. I held him for about 2 minutes until he was taken to get weighed and measured and everything else the Nurses and Dr.'s do. Then Family and friends came to see our new bundle of joy. When the excitement was done and everyone went home, my husband and I got to do the basics like changing his diaper, and of course feed him. A lovely nurse came in and asked us if we wanted to learn how to bathe him. We of course said yes (we needed all the help we could get). We were in the midst of washing him and the nurse had a puzzled look on her face. Connor's body was making stranger then normal movements. Movements that were similar to a seizure like motion. His arm and leg were trembling. I was new to this whole baby thing. They all made weird movements to me. The nurse very calmly said that she would take the baby for the night and watch him and bring him in when he was ready to eat. We needed to get some rest. We obliged and went to sleep for a couple of hours. A Dr around 12AM woke us up. He explained to us that there was a team of DR's and an ambulance on the way from Maine Medical to take Connor, he was having seizures. I couldn't believe only 6 hours after having this baby they were going to take him from me. What was I going to do? Was I going with him? I couldn't go with him because I had just had a baby. I needed to be monitored. They were going to release me in the morning. That was the longest 8 hours of our lives. 8:00 am rolled around and they released me so we could go be with our baby. I was not at all ready to embark on this journey and we were not prepared for what I was about to see.
The Neo-natal Intensive Care unit (or the NICU) at Maine Medical Center was a place I would rather never visit again. Seeing my Baby attached to all of these machines and a tube up his nose. Not really Disney World if you know what I mean. He was in a "plastic bubble" where I could not hold or touch him. Tears came like never before in my life. I thought I was in a dream and I couldn't wake up. A doctor came in and sat us down to talk. He told us that Connor was in fact having seizures and they were caused by a stroke. He had a blood clot in his corroded artery that had blocked blood flow to his brain. His brain was damaged and that we had to be prepared for the worst. What was the worst? What did that mean? This in fact meant that he might not be a normal boy. There could be many problems such as not being able to walk, his eyesight could be poor, he might not be able to feed himself or ever function on his own. What news to hear for a first time Mom and Dad. Devastating news. He was in the NICU for 10 days. He was doing well enough to go home but we needed to learn how to give him all of his medication. He was on Seizure Medication as well as blood thinning medication. We had to give him 2 shots a day in his legs. That was really hard but we knew that we had to do it. After many months of DR appointments and hours of therapy, Connor is doing well.
Today, Connor has made a full recovery. We have not seen any effects of the stroke thus far. He is a healthy happy 3-year-old boy with lots of dreams and ambition. He can't wait to go to school and ride the bus. He is extremely smart and loves to color and draw. He also loves to play with is little brother Dillon and his puppy Banjo.

Although overweight, I had been an extremely healthy woman at 42- nearing my 43rd birthday, I suffered an isematic stroke 4/15. My right side is weak, but growing stronger each day. I have not lost cognitive thought, or brain function, and am learning to be patient with my body & those around me. I am thankful for the stroke center @ Millard Fillmore Gates for taking such good care of me. Don't ignore the warning signs....go early if you suspect stroke. Better to err on the side of caution than to put yourself in jeopardy.

My mother had a stroke when she was 67 years old. She had atrial fibrillation and was taking some medication. However, she was not taking a blood thinner. Some doctors think that had she been on blood thinners, this stroke might have been prevented. When her heart went into an "a-fib", the blood pooled and was to thick to pass through her arteries when her heart returned to normal pumping. The stroke left her with a permanent weakness in her right arm and leg, and eventually crippling her right arm and hand. She also had severe aphasia and was unable to communicate very well. Her immediate family learned to understand a minimal amount. She passed away last week at the age of 83, finally freeing her from the prison of her own body that the stroke had left her in. The last 16 years of her life were terribly challenging for the entire family, but our mother was courageous and hung on to her faith in God to get her through each day.

at 38 yr old completely healthy came home from work and had a mayjor stroke 7 years later no known cause rebounded for the paralization but still no known cause but a chaiin reaction to other painful issues the worst is the pity from known stroke servivers in a second my whole life changed all the trades skills and education preparing my life for middle age ment nothing in a second

I had stroke on 2-11-2009, stayed in th hospital for a month.much better now, however, would like to help

My father in law Lloyd Smith had a massive stroke at the end of March and passed away on Saturday May 2nd, 2009. He was 88. He will be missed very much!! If anyone knows where I can get awarenss bands or buttons, please let me know.

I had a TIA August 20, 2008, the day after my son was born. I had gone to the OR that morning to have a tubal ligation performed and I was lucky that it occurred after the surgery in the recovery room at the hospital I was in. The TIA affected the right side of my face, my right eye and the right side of my body which is kind of weird because it appears to have been a double TIA affecting both hemispheres of the brain. I have made almost a full recovery. I have some issues with multi-tasking now and so issues with my right eye. I have been diagnosed with myasthenia gravis and take medication daily for it. They have yet to determine exactly what caused it. I don't take things for granted anymore since I will never know when another stroke will happen or if it will be a full blown stroke this time.