A 36-year-old man, Brad Coleman, of North Ogden, Utah, experienced a stroke while en route to his child’s soccer game with his wife, Melissa Coleman. She noticed his speech slurring and saw the left side of his face drooping as they stopped at a red light. Despite his initial disbelief that he was having a stroke and their joint denial, Melissa drove him to the nearest emergency room.
After Brad received clot-buster medication, doctors determined that he required a mechanical thrombectomy, a specialized emergency procedure that could remove the clot in his brain causing the stroke and its symptoms. Melissa Coleman knew that Intermountain Health’s McKay-Dee Hospital provided excellent care and drove him there.
Thanks to the successful surgery, Brad’s stroke symptoms were reversed. He praised Dr. Travis McKenzie and his staff for their swift response and excellent care.
The Joint Commission certified McKay-Dee Hospital as a Primary Stroke Center in 2007 and it has performed hundreds of thrombectomies since then. Recently, the Joint Commission certified it as the first nationally certified thrombectomy-capable stroke center in Utah. The hospital can now bypass other hospitals and directly receive patients requiring lifesaving procedure.
Dr. Michael Webb, a vascular and interventional radiological specialist at McKay-Dee, said that the hospital’s unique team had trained for years to treat patients with acute needs. He added that the most satisfying aspect was that, although stroke was a scary and debilitating process, timely care substantially improved patients’ conditions, if not normalized.
Despite his physical recovery, Brad said that the stroke left some emotional scars. Doctors are not sure why he had a stroke at such a young age.
Dr. Melissa McDonald, a stroke neurologist at McKay-Dee, said that strokes can happen at any age, including in children. There is also a link between COVID-19 and young people experiencing strokes as the virus can increase blood coagulability, predisposing patients to strokes A hereditary clotting disorder or cardiac abnormalities are also possible predispositions.
Dr. McDonald urged people to recognize the key symptoms of a stroke, including being off-balance, facial drooping, slurred speech, and weakened arms, and to seek immediate medical attention. The sudden onset is the most significant indicator that a person is having a stroke, and calling 911 and getting to a stroke center promptly is critical.