{"id":6354,"date":"2019-05-17T08:00:59","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T13:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/?p=6354"},"modified":"2021-03-16T10:06:29","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T15:06:29","slug":"stroke-changed-this-new-moms-life-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/stroke-changed-this-new-moms-life-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"Stroke changed this new mom’s life forever"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Do you know your stroke risk?<\/p>\n

Take an assessment<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

At just 38 years old, Amber Thomas had never considered the possibility that she might have a stroke<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So when she started feeling dizzy after a visit to the chiropractor<\/a>, she didn\u2019t suspect that a stroke could be causing her symptoms.<\/p>\n

Amber\u2019s husband, John, remembers the events leading up to the day in January 2017, that changed their lives forever. Amber went to the chiropractor, as she had been for over a year. The next day, feeling off, she went to see her primary care doctor, who thought fluid on the inner ear was causing her symptoms and sent her home.<\/p>\n

On the way home from her appointment, Amber told John her vision was a little blurry. She took the day off work and went to their home in Morton, Illinois, to rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of it was odd to us. We had no reason to think that it was anything stroke related. No one that we were close to has ever had to deal with a stroke, so we didn\u2019t connect any dots,\u201d John said.<\/p>\n

A sudden change<\/h2>\n
\"John

John and Amber Thomas at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center. Amber was in the hospital for 75 days after a devastating stroke. She had several surgeries, including a craniectomy, a procedure where part of the skull is temporarily removed to relieve pressure from brain swelling.<\/p><\/div>\n

John was downstairs with the couple\u2019s young son, Finley, when he heard a crash upstairs where Amber had been lying in bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could see that one side of her face was drooping. I said, \u2018Honey, what happened?\u2019 and she didn\u2019t respond. I grabbed her hand and said, \u2018If you can understand me, squeeze my hand.\u2019 And she wouldn\u2019t squeeze my hand,\u201d John said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was at that stage that I called 9-1-1.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she arrived in the Emergency Department<\/a> at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center<\/a> in Peoria, doctors immediately recognized Amber\u2019s symptoms as signs of stroke and administered tPA, a drug used to dissolve blood clots.<\/p>\n

A scan revealed a tear in the lining of Amber\u2019s left carotid artery, one of the two main blood vessels that carry blood and oxygen to the brain. She also had two large clots blocking blood flow to the left side of her brain.<\/p>\n

Neurosurgeons were able to remove one of the two clots and place a stent in her artery, but the damage suffered when her brain was deprived of blood and oxygen could not be reversed.<\/p>\n

When doctors explained that Amber had suffered a severe stroke, John was shocked. He\u2019d noticed her face was drooping at home, and that she had seemed unable to use her right hand, but it didn\u2019t make sense to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first thought was, \u2018This looks like a stroke, but she\u2019s too young for a stroke. Maybe it\u2019s some kind of a severe drug interaction.\u2019 You don\u2019t connect the dots to that being something that you\u2019re at risk for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A long recovery<\/h2>\n
\"John

John and Amber Thomas in 2019, two years after Amber had a major stroke. She was just 38 years old at the time of her stroke.<\/p><\/div>\n

During a stroke<\/a>, your brain\u2019s blood supply is interrupted. Deprived of oxygen, brain cells can die off quickly, and once they\u2019re gone, they\u2019re gone forever. Despite suffering widespread damage to the left hemisphere of her brain, Amber continues to improve two years after the devastating stroke.<\/p>\n

With the help of her family, neurologists<\/a> and rehabilitation<\/a> specialists, Amber continues to improve her abilities to speak and walk. While she still faces many challenges, the fact that she\u2019s improved so much \u2013 and that she continues to improve \u2013 is stunning.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven with a severe stroke and a severe loss of brain material, there is the ability for that other hemisphere to pick up the slack, and she is living proof of that,\u201d John said.<\/p>\n

Much of what she\u2019s lost since her stroke, though, will never be recovered, including many of her memories. In the two years since her stroke, Amber and her family have made a point to educate others about the risks of stroke<\/a> and chiropractic care.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to talk about it a lot, because she doesn\u2019t remember it. And we try to share the story with as many people as will listen because we want people to know there is a potential risk there and that they should be asking questions. It\u2019s not just reserved for people of a certain age,\u201d John said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe people to understand that they should ask questions and get educated, and make a choice about the risks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you know your stroke risk? Take an assessment At just 38 years old, Amber Thomas had never considered the possibility that she might have a stroke. So when she started feeling dizzy after a visit to the chiropractor, she didn\u2019t suspect that a stroke could be causing her symptoms. Amber\u2019s husband, John, remembers the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":6410,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[99,223],"tags":[755,372,102,114],"coauthors":[757],"class_list":["post-6354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-neurosciences","category-patient-story","tag-osf-ini","tag-osf-saint-francis","tag-rehabilitation","tag-stroke"],"yoast_head":"\nStroke changed this new mom's life forever | OSF HealthCare<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Amber Thomas suffered a serious stroke following a visit to a chiropractor in 2017. 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