Young stroke survivors warn they can happen to you
VIDEO - Strokes aren't just something for older folks to worry about, and 35-year-old Davida Godett is proof. The young mother had her first stroke five years ago...
Strokes aren’t just something for older folks to worry about, and 35-year-old Davida Godett is proof. The young mother had her first stroke five years ago.
“I woke up that morning and I had left side numbness and blurred vision,” she recalls.
Two more would follow. Godett suffered three strokes by the time she was 33. She says many don’t believe that young, seemingly healthy people have strokes…unless you’re Greg Swindells. Greg happened to be in the park with his two young boys and couldn’t help overhearing Davida’s story.
“My wife had a stroke four and a half years ago. When it first happened she lost all speech and movement on the left side of her body,” he said.
Amber Swindells has almost fully recovered from her stroke which was caused by a blood clotting disorder. She was just 25 and in the middle of running a 5k race when it hit.
WATCH VIDEO OF THIS STORY HERE
[NBCVIDEO source=”UNIWIDGET” video=”http://widgets.nbcuni.com/singleclip/singleclip_v1.swf?CXNID=1000004.08052NXC&WID=4a784acd2b1a7e80&clipID=1324472″ w=”400″ h=”400″]
“I had the wrong idea. I always thought it was really old people or people with unhealthy eating habits were the only ones to get a stroke. We were healthy and young and had the whole world ahead of us when it happened,” Greg Swindells says.
Godett, who worked as an accountant before her strokes, says she has lingering physical limitation and cognitive disorders, like trouble with numbers, plus she tires easily. African Americans are twice as likely to die from stroke as Caucasians and tend to have them earlier in life.
Symptoms of a stroke include:
– sudden numbness
– weakness of the face, arm, and leg
– sudden confusion
– trouble speaking
– trouble seeing or walking
– dizziness
– sever headaches.
If you have any of these warning signs, call 911 immediately.
