‘They can happen to anybody:’ Young Mississippians share their stories of being impacted by strokes

Katie Arrington is from Inverness  and is studying building construction science at Mississippi State University.

“I had a stroke at 18, but I'm 19 now,” she said. “I turn a lot of heads in a lot of waiting rooms, bring down the average age in about every room I'm in. It's just kind of something new I have to live with.”

The stroke caught Arrington off guard.

“Having a stroke really changed the course of my school year,” she said. “I woke up in the hospital on the first day of classes and eventually had to drop out.”

Arrington says a previously undiagnosed condition known as a patent foramen ovale, or PFO, could have caused the stroke.

“We have a pretty good idea that it was a PFO,” she said. “It was a hole in my heart that let a blood clot go to my brain.”

The symptoms Arrington describes as experiencing before the stroke included a migraine, something she said she had been used to getting.

“I had a lot of the same symptoms as my migraines, but a doctor at a clinic in Belzoni was like, hey, this is not a migraine,” she said. “Get to Saint Dominic's.”

Arrington says she was being treated for the blood clot within 40 minutes after arriving at the hospital. Arrington says she lost her vision for around 36 hours but she says her life has almost gone back to normal and she’s returned to Mississippi State. She says she’s had strong support from her parents.

“They were kind of shocked,” she said. “They say I took some years off their life, but other than that, they've stuck with me through it all.”

Now, Arrington says she hopes more young people can become aware of the risks of strokes even in their demographic.

“College brings a lot of stress, a lot of anxiety,” she said. “I've felt that this past semester, but your health, it's something you can't get back if it's gone. You can get back control of your life, but if something happens, it's up to God to decide what happens.”

Arrington says having May as stroke awareness month can help young people recognize the impact strokes can have on their life.

“I think that people realize strokes don't just happen in the older population,” she said. “They can happen to anybody.”

Ryan McBride had the same heart condition as Arrington, but says he was still undiagnosed almost two years ago when he was only 46 years old.

“I was at home cooking for my children, preparing to take my daughter to the Nutcracker,” he said. “I noticed that my fingers started moving by themselves, and I had never had that happen before. I am otherwise healthy. I do have hypertension but it is well-controlled so there was no reason for me to suspect a stroke happening. So, as I was preparing breakfast, my seven-year-old daughter noticed that something was wrong and she started yelling.”

McBride says eventually another daughter, his wife and a neighbor came to his aide.

“I had all the classic symptoms of a stroke,” he said. “I could not speak. My right side was completely paralyzed.”

McBride’s family quickly called an ambulance so he could be treated. He says both of his daughters have now been exposed to some emergency training.

“My oldest daughter, who is 15, she's gotten CPR, and my youngest, also, she's nine at this time, so she's kind of paid attention to it,” he said. 

Dr. Shreyas Gangadhara is division chief for Vascular Neurology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He says the southern region has become known as the “stroke belt."

“We have a higher prevalence of stroke in general, but more so we also have a higher prevalence of stroke in young,” he said. 

Gangadhara says the higher rates of strokes in people under 50 is in part due to standard risks including smoking, diabetes and hypertension - but he also says other factors can contribute as well, such as heart defects, car accidents or illicit drug use. 

“A lot of times you may not get any warning signs that you are about to have a stroke,” he said. “People will be just normal, and then the next second they have symptoms. Common symptoms to look out for are one-sided weakness, numbness, slurred speech, walking difficulty, double vision, droopy face. Those are all the symptoms to look for that would indicate somebody may be having a stroke.”

Gangadhara says it’s important to teach young people about recognizing these symptoms. 

“Time is brain,” he said. “The earlier we recognize stroke and the earlier we can offer treatment and intervene on these patients, the better they do.”

The CDC recommends incorporating physical activity and eating a healthy diet to lower the risk of stroke.