Teen stroke survivors
Teen stroke survivors
4 teen stroke survivors who share special bond are graduating from high school this weekend. Over a 2-year span, four KC-area high schoolers suffered strokes. Finding each other helped with their recovery. And this weekend, they’re all graduating - right on time.
Content
6.404 -> - I thought it was just
something with old people.
7.664 -> I didn't know teenagers could have them,
9.122 -> for gosh sakes.
10.314 -> - I thought old people had it
12.223 -> and that was it.
13.606 -> - I, no.
15.559 -> - I was completely wrong.
17.39 -> - No one ever thought that
19.057 -> 16-Year-Olds would have strokes.
21.332 -> - I didn't even know what
a stroke was, really.
23.898 -> (subdued music)
35.062 -> - Cheer was my life.
36.565 -> And, I know when people say that
38.477 -> it's really dramatic,
40.799 -> but it really was all that I did.
43.379 -> Competitive in high school,
46.062 -> cheer was what I did 24/7.
51.801 -> - I had two jobs.
53.559 -> I was skating all the time.
55.959 -> All through high school,
56.792 -> I competed on my
synchronized skating team,
59.394 -> Kansas City Illusion,
60.874 -> and that took up a lot of my life.
62.869 -> And we would travel and compete together.
64.859 -> We were a big family.
67.174 -> Skating was my whole life, basically.
72.965 -> - I had my stroke when I was 14,
75.267 -> and my life was just kind of normal.
78.436 -> I went to elementary school
80.513 -> and then went to middle school
81.55 -> and I was a cheerleader then,
83.074 -> and that was really fun.
84.617 -> And then I started high school
88.148 -> and I had a stroke. (laughs)
94.821 -> - Runner, and
98.98 -> all runner.
101.461 -> And clothes.
106.689 -> Love clothes.
109.07 -> And...
112.287 -> I don't know.
114.963 -> Go hang out with family.
121.531 -> Friends.
124.94 -> - I was 16, November 3rd,
127.611 -> and it was a Friday night.
129.779 -> I had an earache,
131.303 -> and I didn't think much of it.
134.819 -> After school, all of my
friends came to my house
137.016 -> and we got ready for
the Friday night game.
139.698 -> And we cheered, I drove them home,
142.238 -> and I got home and I was just sick.
145.296 -> Sick to my stomach,
147.769 -> my head hurt, my ears hurt.
155.063 -> And I washed off the mat
157.342 -> and I was in so much pain
I couldn't even speak.
161.814 -> I walked to my mom
after everyone performed
165.288 -> and she said, "How about you just go home?
167.851 -> "I'll meet you there."
169.354 -> I drove home and I was already in bed
171.752 -> and she said that when she got there
173.988 -> I was moaning, like a screaming moaning.
177.571 -> They took me down stairs
179.039 -> and I had to throw up because of the pain,
182.627 -> and he said, "How about
you get on your knees
184.578 -> "and try to throw up."
185.793 -> And I said, "Knees?"
190.1 -> I didn't know what my knees were.
190.991 -> So that's when he looked at my mom,
193.245 -> and he was like, "You need to go, now."
198.112 -> - It was July 3rd of 2013,
200.429 -> and I was on the ice
just like any other day.
202.866 -> Actually, I got to the rink,
204.414 -> it was crazy busy, so I left.
206.202 -> Went and got Starbucks,
207.955 -> came back, got on the
ice, and it happened.
212.508 -> What I've been told is
213.471 -> I rushed to the locker room
215.132 -> with a really bad headache,
216.554 -> and I guess some girls came in
218.02 -> and found me vomiting/seizing on the floor
222.901 -> or something along those lines.
224.203 -> I'm not really sure.
225.736 -> And so they immediately called my coach
227.689 -> and they called 911.
230.777 -> - I had my stroke October 24th, 2011.
234.032 -> I woke up and I went to school,
235.662 -> and I went all the way
up until fifth hour.
238.39 -> I had lunch, and then 6th hour I had PE.
242.382 -> And I just finished running,
243.642 -> and I was right by my teacher
244.785 -> who I had just met that day
246.169 -> because it was my first day of PE,
248.08 -> because I had Health class first quarter.
250.969 -> And I passed out.
254.951 -> He could see me falling over sick,
257.307 -> "Just lay down, lay down."
264.345 -> - Football.
266.458 -> And, one, no...
271.373 -> - She was in a Powderpuff football game
273.225 -> her sophomore year of high school,
275.747 -> dove for a pass and landed
278.512 -> on her head and shoulder area,
281.071 -> feet up in the air.
282.518 -> Some of the people on he sidelines
283.7 -> didn't think she'd get up from that fall,
285.355 -> but she popped up, said she was fine,
288.918 -> went on about her day.
290.506 -> She did come home early that night
292.496 -> and said she just didn't feel very good,
294.593 -> which was unusual, and went to bed early.
297.019 -> I woke her up for school Monday morning,
299.821 -> she got herself up out of bed,
301.409 -> went in the bathroom, checked her phone,
303.971 -> text a friend or two,
305.19 -> and then I found her
about ten minutes later
308.422 -> exhibiting the classic symptoms of stroke.
310.786 -> However, when I saw
them in my 16-Year-Old,
313.061 -> I didn't realize at all
that it was a stroke.
320.669 -> Well, they took me to one hospital
322.175 -> and they said, "Oh, we can't
treat her here for that."
325.084 -> Because that's what they thought.
326.185 -> They thought it was a stroke.
327.444 -> So they took me to another hospital.
329.359 -> They peppered us with questions,
331.106 -> trying to determine when
the stroke occurred.
334.314 -> They did another scan and confirmed
336.103 -> that there was indeed a clot.
337.568 -> And then she had to have a procedure
339.967 -> where a surgeon went
in through her artery,
343.415 -> up into the brain and was able to
344.956 -> remove about 90% of the clot.
346.99 -> So after removing the clot,
348.45 -> several hours after that
349.993 -> we had to have a bolt put in
352.185 -> to measure pressure in the brain.
354.302 -> - And they figured out
that it was a stroke,
358.046 -> so then I think they
took me into surgery then
360.858 -> to do a craniotomy to
take part of my skull out
364.405 -> to relieve pressure
365.789 -> because my brain was swelling.
367.27 -> - They finally did a CT scan, I think,
369.345 -> and they saw the massive bleed on my brain
371.5 -> So then I was life flighted to KU,
374.021 -> and KU immediately did a
double craniectomy on me,
377.232 -> and they went in and clamped the aneurysm.
379.347 -> - So, they did an emergency craniotomy.
382.236 -> If you put two of your hands together,
384.268 -> that's about how much skull I lost.
388.261 -> - Swelling continued.
390.467 -> They tried lowering her body temperature,
394.175 -> and ultimately put her in an induced coma.
401.727 -> - I knew that if I wanted
to have a full recovery,
404.274 -> it needed to be because of what I did,
406.469 -> not because of what anyone else did.
408.547 -> Monday through Friday,
410.725 -> they wake me up in the morning
411.648 -> and the doctors would come in
413.478 -> and make sure I'm doing okay,
414.858 -> and then we'd do the physical therapy,
417.419 -> occupational therapy, and speech therapy,
420.427 -> like, all day.
421.727 -> - My body needed to be
recovered by my actions.
425.463 -> So, I worked extremely hard.
428.431 -> I'm not gonna say it was easy.
430.864 -> It was definitely not a good feeling
432.696 -> to have to start back to square one
436.03 -> and relearning the ABCs and 1,2,3s,
439.143 -> learning how to speak, how to write,
441.179 -> how to walk, how to go to the bathroom,
443.942 -> how to go to sleep, how to wake up,
446.259 -> it was definitely not
an easy path to take.
450.051 -> - I mean, I didn't really have a choice to
453.006 -> not do anything about it.
454.024 -> I just had to keep going
455.122 -> and do my therapies and try and get better
458.484 -> to where I used to be.
465.043 -> - Out.
469.282 -> Sleep.
470.669 -> - When you were in the coma?
471.8 -> - Yeah.
472.634 -> - Yeah, I can't say that she's really
474.115 -> had a low point since.
475.622 -> She's kept an extremely positive attitude
478.675 -> through the whole thing,
480.137 -> and people look at us now
481.844 -> and tell us, "You're so
strong, you're so active.
484.653 -> "You got through this so well."
485.75 -> And I say, "We took it a day at a time."
490.447 -> I didn't really focus
too far in the future
493.793 -> on the what-Ifs.
496.002 -> We just keep working.
500.528 -> But she stayed very positive
through the whole thing.
503.312 -> - I got back to Kansas city,
504.612 -> and I was at Rick every
single day having consistency,
507.819 -> and then finally one
day my speech therapist
509.483 -> sat me down and explained
everything to me,
511.128 -> and I was like, "Wow, okay."
513.858 -> And then I finally remembered it
514.918 -> because she sat me down
and told me it outright.
525.096 -> - Talking, and can't speak,
528.623 -> And I can't remember. (sighs)
533.386 -> - So, the communication part of her brain
535.415 -> was damaged by her stroke,
537.001 -> so that affects not only her speaking
540.132 -> but also reading and writing.
541.921 -> But when she came out of the coma,
543.832 -> there was no sound whatsoever.
545.945 -> So that was obviously
alarming and distressing.
552.652 -> My arm still is struggling, and my hand.
555.981 -> I can't really move them.
557.855 -> I mean, I can move them,
558.688 -> I just can't use them.
560.053 -> - During that time, I still
had no memory whatsoever,
562.452 -> so there was just a lot of blankness.
566.318 -> I didn't have a very good understanding.
568.399 -> I finally was starting to
grasp what had happened,
571.512 -> but I didn't have very
many emotions toward it
573.954 -> because I wasn't fully
understanding it, I guess.
576.802 -> But then finally once
I understood everything
578.383 -> it was just a big shocker to me.
581.553 -> Like, wait, a brain aneurysm?
583.584 -> What is that?
584.418 -> I don't know what that is, what?
586.698 -> And it took lot of time
for me to understand
589.284 -> and realize what all had happened.
591.276 -> - I did go through little parts of
593.718 -> sadness and depression,
594.856 -> just because what did I do
597.009 -> to get stock with this,
you know what I mean?
600.426 -> - When I had my stroke,
601.319 -> I struggled with speech,
603.031 -> I was right-Side deficit,
604.739 -> and nothing came out of my mouth
608.275 -> except for yes and no.
611.773 -> When my friends came, they
wanted to ask questions
613.93 -> they wanted to talk to me.
614.866 -> They wanted to be my friend again,
616.659 -> and I think it was really hard for them
618.857 -> to see me in that stage of nothing.
624.666 -> Being a stroke survivor,
625.5 -> I think the hardest part is recovery.
628.808 -> And your friends are a big part of it.
631.071 -> It's a big factor in your recovery.
638.134 -> - We met here.
639.437 -> We met here at Blake's house.
641.387 -> - Yeah, we all had dinner,
642.65 -> and then I think we had a sleepover after.
646.7 -> And that's when we really
648.85 -> got to know each other for the first time.
650.905 -> - I think one thing that
stroke survivors go through
654.311 -> is the recovery that
657.177 -> we have to accept and conquer
661.446 -> and it's not easy to do that by yourself.
664.703 -> Having these girls in my life
666.657 -> is a big blessing because
669.862 -> whenever it's frustrating
to try and relate to people
673.987 -> who haven't had strokes,
675.612 -> you always have friends that do,
677.812 -> that can relate.
678.789 -> - Well okay, it was kind
of weird on how we met.
681.649 -> Just us all having an aneurysm or stroke,
686.376 -> and that just doesn't happen.
688.942 -> But, because of it I've found
691.218 -> three best friends for life,
692.804 -> and I can go to them for anything
695.082 -> and just know they're always there for me.
705.897 -> - It's a big deal to graduate on time
709.108 -> because there are so many
people that doubted me,
713.094 -> and it's so nice to say that
715.259 -> I did graduate on time
716.6 -> and I have future plans,
718.928 -> and I plan on pushing those even harder
722.876 -> than anything before.
725.638 -> - She's maintained active and
733.688 -> stayed on track with school,
734.669 -> so we're very proud of her
735.728 -> for working hard and meeting that goal
739.393 -> and trying to figure out what
the next step is. (laughs)
745.338 -> - I don't know.
746.557 -> College, but,
748.935 -> working, but...
753.603 -> - That is the big finish line,
754.457 -> graduating and being done.
755.88 -> Like, oh my gosh it's so imperative.
758.319 -> But, I'm ready to be done right now.
760.64 -> - I'm looking forward to graduation.
762.995 -> It has a little bit more meaning.
764.296 -> I mean, I'm just really excited
to be done with high school.
768.404 -> I'll have to go into gym
769.623 -> to do some summer classes,
771.411 -> but I'll still graduate
with my class in May.
776.275 -> - We're working with some of her educators
779.491 -> and trying to find the right
fit for her with college.
783.437 -> So we don't have our plans set,
785.672 -> but definitely whether she's on
788.857 -> more traditional schedule
or on Molly's schedule,
792.161 -> she's gonna get there,
793.545 -> and I have no doubt she'll be successful.
798.509 -> - No one expects a
16-Year-Old to have a stroke.
800.462 -> No, never.
801.476 -> And so, I really want to
help raise awareness of it
804.283 -> and let other people
know that it can happen
806.068 -> and it does.
807.372 -> - My message for other kids or adults
809.888 -> who have ha strokes is just to
812.407 -> never give up and always have hope.
815.698 -> - Having a stroke is
definitely a part of my life
817.849 -> that I do proudly share,
820.901 -> and it's definitely not something
823.668 -> that I want people to have,
825.069 -> but it's definitely something that
826.25 -> I want people to be aware of.
827.904 -> (gentle music)
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZNvZP5aQT8