"I felt like I was sliding. My face was drooping. My speech – there was no speech.”
Kathleen recounts the scary situation that happened in the early morning hours of March 2, 2018. When Kathleen’s husband, Peter, heard a thud on the floor below, he and their son Patrick raced upstairs to find Kathleen collapsed on her bedroom floor. Patrick, a trained EMT, immediately knew his mother was experiencing a stroke.
Peter called 911 right away, and Kathleen was rushed to Good Samaritan Medical Center. There, Robert Dart, MD, diagnosed Kathleen with aphasia, right sided weakness, and ultimately an acute stroke from a clot. Her NIH Stroke Scale was 26, which is considered a severe stroke. Kathleen was immediately transferred to BMC, where her care team awaited.
Kathleen arrived at BMC at 9:26 AM and Thanh Nguyen, MD and Mohamed Abdalkader, MD, brought her directly to the neurointerventional suite to remove the clot. Within 15 minutes - a new procedure time record for the BMC Stroke Interventional team - the blocked artery was successfully opened. Kathleen regained movement in her right side almost immediately, and later that afternoon, her speech improved.
Kathleen was transferred to rehabilitation where she continued to recover, is now back at home with a new outlook on life. She has quit smoking, and is speaking and walking well. She is continuing her outpatient stroke treatment with Hugo Aparicio, MD at BMC.
"I am so grateful for the BMC Stroke and Neurointerventional teams for giving my life back," says Kathleen.
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