Postpartum stroke survivor, Andrea Engfer, shares her story of survival and recovery
Postpartum stroke survivor, Andrea Engfer, shares her story of survival and recovery
Andrea Engfer, 35, had just given birth to her daughter when she had a stroke. She missed her first Mother’s Day as she was in the hospital recovering. After stroke rehab, and making a commitment to run a 5k, she and her family are now thriving.
Content
2.63 -> - So this picture is of my family.
5.075 -> It's of my husband Martin
and my daughter Emma.
13.29 -> This picture means a lot
to me because this was
19.344 -> the first picture that we took as a family
23.438 -> after my stroke.
26.89 -> My pregnancy was actually amazing.
30.05 -> I never had any issues
33.14 -> and I loved it when she
first started kicking.
36.6 -> I went in on April 1st of 2020,
39.196 -> but I did not give birth to
my daughter until April 3rd,
43.21 -> a little after 6:30 in the evening.
45.42 -> So it was a long drawn out birth.
49.95 -> I stayed in the hospital for two days.
52.02 -> So I went home on April 5th
and it wasn't until April 8th
57.74 -> and that is when I had my stroke.
60.28 -> I woke up with a migraine
which is very usual for me.
65.25 -> I've suffered from migraines
since I was 12 years old.
68.31 -> So I just would go about my day
71.625 -> and hopefully it would
go away, but it wasn't.
74.31 -> My husband suggested
that we go to urgent care
77.14 -> just to make sure that everything was okay
80.3 -> because I had just given birth.
81.88 -> And so on their way to urgent care
85.65 -> is when everything kind of unfolded.
88.08 -> And I just remember
letting out a huge scream.
93.11 -> And after that I don't remember anything.
95.37 -> But it was kind of,
97.23 -> it was terrifying to know that
this is what happened to me
101.07 -> and the fact that he had to,
113.02 -> he had to go through this
thinking that I wasn't gonna live.
124.06 -> Well the one thing that I've noticed about
127.204 -> especially Hispanic women is
128.8 -> we don't really talk about our health.
133.02 -> It wouldn't be until
something had happened to us
136.47 -> finally start taking care of ourselves.
138.92 -> You know I was in pretty good health
141.343 -> and the high blood pressure only happened
143.66 -> the last three weeks of my pregnancy
145.77 -> so I never thought that this could happen.
148.87 -> But now going through all of this
152.265 -> I would want women to know
153.945 -> that they need to talk to their doctor
155.844 -> and make sure that they be
an advocate for themselves.
158.42 -> When we are young we
don't think about that.
160.81 -> We think oh, we're gonna live forever.
163.78 -> And I'll worry about that later on in life
166.26 -> and know it can happen
at any age, at any time.
170.1 -> And I'm proof of that.
(gentle music)
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltggf7h4daQ