A Life Changed Following a Stroke

I had a stroke. Thanksgiving morning, 2018. It stays with me because it was Thanksgiving morning. Stephanie Whitfield, now 55, is the president of Bank of America Sarasota-manatee. She's also the mother of three sons and a daughter and active in her church and community. So we were just doing some final touches that morning on what we needed to to finish. And, my husband went into his home office. My mother and I were at the table and, I just I was sitting there and then all of a sudden it just felt like a knife went into my head. It was just a stabbing feeling. And I've never had a migraine, so I didn't even know I had no experience of a head hurting at that level. But I literally felt like someone drove a knife into my brain and I stood up and I know my mother was talking to me, but I couldn't really hear her anymore. And I was walking toward the steps and I started and this is these are things now that my husband has filled in for me. But I started up the steps, apparently, and my mother called him, screamed his name. He came out of his office right across from the steps, grabbed me as I was falling, and so he and my mother took me to the E.R.. They went through the stroke protocol, admitted me. And but the positive, the best thing that happened is he got me there so quickly that I was able to get the drug called TPA. TPA, or tissue plasminogen activator, is a lifesaving drug that instantly breaks up a blood clot. What typically would require a four day hospital stay took Winfield just to. Before she was released. Her husband, Mark, who'd had a stroke some years earlier, advocated for her to get the care she needed and he was a great support. Later, at home, he carried me into the house, you know, and he helped to bathe me and carried me down the steps and propped me up on the sofa. And he did that for months. I started physical therapy soon as I was released. She'd been traveling for work a few days before her stroke and fell off, but she kept telling herself she would rest after the holiday. I just did what I. What I had always done. I'd just push through, started cooking some things Wednesday night, right, like we did. And, woke up Thursday early, right here, getting things together for us to take to the church. And, I think my body was like, I'm not waiting till Friday, you know? And it just I just couldn't it just couldn't handle it. I just couldn't handle it. Like many of us, Whitfield did not know how common strokes are in women. Here's Jessica Rodriguez, executive director of the American Heart Association for Southwest Florida. Yeah, stroke is actually more common than I think most people believe. And women, stroke is the number five killer of women in the United States to ensure recovery, a stroke needs to be treated within 4.5 hours of symptoms appearing. But many people ignore or don't recognize those symptoms. Doctor John Barrowman is a senior neurologist at Lee health. Warnings are include any kind of difficulty with speech, any difficulty with extremity movements, balance, occasional headache, facial weakness, like drooping on the face. On one side, an acronym to know is fast, F for face, A for arm, S for speech and T for time. Watch for drooping in the face, weakness in the arm or leg, difficulty with speech and time because the sooner the person gets treated, the more likely they are to recover. Also call 911 rather than driving yourself to the hospital, because treatment, including the clot busting drug, can be started in the ambulance. As for Stephanie Whitfield, she is back to doing everything she could before her stroke and then some, but she says she will never be the same. For one thing, she now knows she has the strength to survive a stroke and she knows to prioritize her own health. Please take care of yourself first. It's not selfish because when we take care of ourselves first, we have so much more to give all those people we love. We're not giving them the leftovers. We're not giving them the crumbs. We are taking care of ourselves. We're eating right. We're exercising. We're sleeping. If our bodies, if we feel something, we're getting it checked out because then we don't have to see the heartache on their faces if we're not there. Jessica Rodriguez of the American Heart Association, again, we know that one of the most common indicators of an incoming stroke in a woman is high blood pressure. So it's really critical that every woman knows what their blood pressure is, knows what range it falls in, and is seeking care to, get their blood pressure on track, which healthy blood pressure is 120 over 80? Doctor Broman recommends people get a blood pressure cuff and check it regularly at home. Between that and seeing your doctor for blood work. Women can help ensure that they're around for many more holidays to come. For WDSU news, I'm Carrie Barber. Thanks for watching. We've got more great content for you, from the news to the arts to the environment. So be sure to like and subscribe to the YouTube channel and follow us on all of the social media platforms for the stories that matter to you.