DaveO

My name is Dave.

Here is a video of my story: http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/23606413/stroke-survivor-to-compete-in-tc-marathons-1st-awareness-team

I survived my stroke on Tuesday April 12, 2011. I woke at 5:10am with my right side paralyzed and I could not speak. My wife called 911 and the worker had my wife give me three tasks to do. I failed all three tasks. I just looked straight ahead with my tongue hanging out of my mouth. The ambulance arrived and I was taken to the hospital. Lucky for me it was a hospital that was good at dealing with stroke. The doctors determined I had an ischemic stoke on my left brain caused by a blood clot in my carotid artery. They performed a procedure where they entered an artery in my leg and went up to my carotid artery and blasted the clot and sucked it back out. After the surgery the doctor told my wife that I was lucky. He said 50-60 % of patients that come in like I did don't survive. He said I was smiling when I woke up.

None of the doctors were able to explain what caused my stroke. They asked my wife over and over again if I experienced any blunt trauma to the neck. She didn't know of any and I could not remember much. I was in the ICU until Friday and released on Saturday. We didn't figure it out for about a week after I was home. My wife was picking up my son at baseball practice one of the other moms who knew nothing of my stroke asked how my neck was. The Sunday night before my stroke I was picking up my son from practice and I was standing next to my friend Rick when a baseball struck me in the neck. I remember saying "That hurts more than it should" and kept talking to Rick. That was it, getting hit by that baseball caused my stroke! Monday I did not feel 100% but went to work (I'm a web application developer) just like any other day. Monday night I taught my group fitness class (BodyPump) at the YMCA. I went to bed with a bad headache. Sometime before 5:10 I stroked.

Many of my friends and family call my recovery so far a miracle. It took me a while to become comfortable with the word miracle. When I left the hospital Saturday morning I walked out the front door with no help. The only noticeable effect from my stoke was a slight aphasia. Since then I've noticed some other minor effects from the stroke: I can't throw a baseball, or shoot a basketball. I'm going to continue working on these effects. If I don't get those abilities back my plan is to return next season as a lefty.

I've seen the MRI photos which show that about 20% of my left brain is dead. I was sad for a while but now I'm over it.I'm finding that the stroke has made me a better person in many ways. I appreciate every day. I wake up with a smile most days.