#redshoes4youngstroke

“Puckett Will Park It”: Reflecting on Stroke In Young People During the World Series

I was born in Houston, Texas, and have fond memories of going to the Astrodome in the 1980s with my grandfather to watch the Astros play baseball. They knew that orange was the new black way before Netflix existed, as did their fans. This year, needless to say, I excitedly cheered them on this year’s impassioned team during the World Series, and while they ended short during game 7, man – what a fun journey. Congratulations to the Washington Nationals on a hard-earned victory, and to my Astros on a fantastic season!

As I have watched games this year with my baseball-enthused fiancé (who became my husband on October 12th, thus my new last name!), I began reminiscing on World Series from years past. In particular, I remember watching the Atlanta Braves (the popular team in my area as I was growing up in South Carolina) take on the Minnesota Twins. It was another seven game wild ride, with the Twins as the victors ultimately in game 7. I could not go away disappointed, though, because over the course of the Series I grew to like the Twins. In particular, a player named Kirby Puckett captured my attention. Fans in the stands held up signs that read: “Puckett Will Park It.” When he retired from baseball in 1996, his batting average was the highest of any right-handed hitter since Joe DiMaggio. He was strong, enthusiastic, and brought his A game when it mattered. He was inducted into the hall of fame in 2001 (his first year of eligibility).

After reminiscing about Kirby Puckett’s years in baseball, I asked my at-the-time fiancé, “Whatever happened to Kirby Puckett?”

He replied: “He died a while back.”

Whoa! Say what?

When I took to the internet to figure out what happened to Kirby Puckett, I learned that he died from a hemorrhagic stroke at the age of 44, thought to be due to high blood pressure. His health had declined after leaving baseball, and stroke did not have mercy on him simply because of his relatively young age. He was the second youngest baseball player inducted into the hall of fame while still living (Lou Gehrig being the youngest). Having been an elite athlete earlier in life was not enough to save him from the devastating effects of stroke or the diseases that increase the risk for it.

For those of you with hypertension (high blood pressure), I implore you to follow up regularly with your healthcare providers. High blood pressure may not “hurt” in most cases, but unfortunately the first real symptom of it can be a stroke, heart attack, kidney failuure. Hypertension is the number one modifiable risk factor for stroke (meaning – the top condition leading to stroke that we can actually do something about; age is the top risk factor, but nobody has figured out how to stop the clock yet).

High blood pressure is not to be ignored, and it is not to be taken lightly.

Love Is: Why Luke Perry’s Death Disturbs A Generation

Have you ever had the experience of going five, ten, maybe even 20 years and not given a single thought to something, only to find that when it pops up on your radar again, it repetitively re-enters your world in an almost surreal way?

I am having that experience right now with a television show that was incredibly popular when I was in middle school and high school called Beverly Hills, 90210. I arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii a month ago for the International Stroke Conference, and as I was checking in at the hotel, I noticed a blues and jazz club entrance in the hotel lobby – The Blue Note. I did not have anything on the agenda for the evening. My father had just turned 70 in December, and surfing the waves on Hawaii’s North Shore had always been on his to-do list. His flight was due to arrive very late into the night. After checking in, I walked to the kiosk to buy a ticket to The Blue Note, and learned that Vanessa Williams was the singer performing that night!

Excuse me for a moment, but AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those who know me best understand that I am quite possibly bordering on obsessive when it comes to music of the ’80s and early ’90s, and nostalgia for that time period, no matter how ridiculous some aspects of those years may have been, runs deep within me. Don’t get me wrong – I savor the present and have a “Carpe Diem!” mindset, and don’t dwell in the past, per se. But I was only a kid then, and man I loved music and TV growing up! I have attended a lot of concerts of ’80s and early ’90s artists and bands, but had not had the opportunity to hear Vanessa Williams perform, even though I very much wanted to do so.

Vanessa did not disappoint. I had the privilege of reliving my childhood through her songs from a serendipitous front table at the base of the stage in the intimate venue of about 120 fans (apparently people had been watching The Super Bowl earlier in the evening?!). Save the Best for Last, Colors of the Wind, The Sweetest Days… but it was Love Is that hit me emotionally for some reason. With the opening notes, my mind immediately leapt back to the Beverly Hills, 90210 soundtrack, the pictures of Luke Perry that some girls had in their lockers, and how much I enjoyed hearing that song on the radio during 1993, a pivotal year as I transitioned from middle school to high school.

After the show, despite being extremely exhausted at this point since it was about midnight in Hawaii and I had flown from North Carolina that day, I was up for hours more, reflecting on middle school days. The joy of newfound independence and responsibility that came with having a locker. The rejection from someone I thought was a friend. Being 5’7″ tall in seventh grade but dancing my heart out at school dances even if I was taller than all of the guys. Learning from some of the most wonderful teachers imaginable. Laughing until I cried. Crying until there were no more tears.

That’s middle school. Or at least, that was middle school before social media and the internet.

I then stayed up even longer, reading online about Shannen Doherty’s battle with breast cancer, and Luke Perry’s acting career since his days as Dylan McKay on 90210. My dad then arrived just before dawn, and we had coffee together while watching the sunrise. What a great start to the trip!

About a week later, on the long journey back to North Carolina, I heard two people in the Seattle airport discussing the television show, Melrose Place. (For those of you who are unaware, it was a spin-off of 90210). Again, strangely, after not giving 90210 a single thought for at least 25 years, there it was in the forefront of my consciousness. Weird? Or just a coincidence?

Then, yesterday I learned, as did the rest of the world, that Luke Perry unexpectedly died at age 52 from a “massive stroke.”

Wow.

Unfortunately, I see young people who are disabled or killed by strokes with relative frequency as a vascular neurologist, and focus much of my effort around advocating for young stroke survivors (thus, this blog). It is sobering when I no longer feel surprised when a young person arrives in an emergency department with a stroke. The media is treating stroke in young people as “rare,” but it is not.

And yet, for some reason, despite being fully aware that stroke can strike the young and the old, I was surprised when I heard this tragic news about Luke Perry.

Why?

Perhaps it’s because 90210 had already been floating around in my mind since hearing Vanessa Williams perform Love Is.

Perhaps it is because I thought of my middle school-aged self during Luke’s reign on 90210, and I was so young, naïve, and innocent then. I had never seen death. I may not have even known what a stroke was then.

Or perhaps I felt stunned because Luke wasn’t really 52 in my mind. His presence on our television screens was one of youth, and that youth persists in my visual memory of him. He stayed young, even as time moved on off of the set.

Luke’s death is different than many celebrity deaths, because it touches on a vulnerability. Someone still in his prime years, young, and in a way, forever young in our minds, had a stroke. If it happened to him, it could happen to anyone.

But then again…he was 52. Is that young? Yes, I think it is, but it’s not 20 (although young stroke survivors know that one is never too young to have a stroke, but hopefully you will take my point here). Luke Perry was 52. And he died from a “massive stroke.”

And then another thought occurs…I was only in middle school when he was on billboards, in commercials, and on television; I was most definitely on the younger end of the 90210 generation, but despite being on that younger side, a few months ago I turned 40! How is that possible? 90210 (in its original form) was only on TV a few years ago. Was 52 young to me when I was 20? It certainly seems to be young now that I’m 40.

Wait. About the original 90210 being on TV only a few years ago. Make that…28 years ago that it premiered. Where did that time go? There has been much to show for it, but still…wow.

Luke’s death forces members of a generation to face the reality that we may feel young and act young, but we are getting older. Yet, it also demonstrates in the harshest of ways that people who are young can lose their lives very quickly to stroke. I have often written on The Stroke Blog that tomorrow is not guaranteed to anyone. I stand by that assertion.

I sincerely hope a day will come when we can rid the world of this awful disease.

Rest in peace, Luke Perry.

#Redshoes4youngstroke: A Call to Action!

One of the central missions of The Stroke Blog since it went live in October 2014 has been to provide information to those who have survived a stroke or strokes that occurred at relatively young ages. The very first post, “Deconstructing the Mini-Stroke,” recognized that while there may be symptoms more-or-less universal to some stroke types regardless of a person’s age, that the young stroke population tends to struggle differently through what I call their stroke aftermath.

One problem in the young stroke population is that, while we have a drug (IV t-PA) that can help to minimize the long-term aftermath of ischemic stroke when administered within three to four-and-a-half hours of stroke onset, many young patients do not receive it. A number of my young patients have told me that when their symptoms began, they decided to take a nap or wait it out, either because stroke was not on their radar, or because even if it was, they believed stroke to be a disease of the elderly. Those who do take their symptoms seriously and seek emergent medical attention can be misdiagnosed, because healthcare providers may doubt that a stroke can occur at young ages. For hemorrhagic stroke, early medical attention can result in better outcomes for different reasons. Perhaps an aneurysm has ruptured requiring urgent surgical repair, or a hemorrhagic stroke patient requires emergent blood pressure control. When stroke symptoms develop, regardless of a person’s age, emergent medical attention should be sought. In the United States, this means calling 911 (not driving oneself to the hospital).

According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2009, almost one-third of stroke hospital admissions in the U.S. were for patients under the age of 65. The Center for Health Statistics estimates that $15.5 billion was lost in productivity in the U.S. in 2008 as a result of stroke patients having to leave the workforce. When stroke strikes a young adult, it costs these individuals personally on many fronts, but it also takes its financial toll at a national level.

This is a public health problem. I want young people to know that when sudden paralysis develops in an arm or a leg, the right thing to do is to get to a hospital as quickly as possible in hopes that t-PA treatment may be a possibility. For severe strokes resulting in large artery occlusions, or “blockages,” we now have very compelling clinical trial data telling us that using a catheter to remove the blood clot is very beneficial in some patients, but only when the stroke is treated early. A delay of even a few hours may make the difference between being dependent on others for care, or returning to independence.

I challenge you to raise awareness about this problem. I challenge you to find a red pair of shoes in your closet, or purchase an inexpensive pair

Wearing my red shoes at the International Stroke Conference about 20 minutes before this blog post!

Wearing my red shoes at the International Stroke Conference about 20 minutes before this blog post! #redshoes4youngstroke

of red shoes, or if this is too much of a financial burden, to spray-paint an old pair of shoes red. Wear them proudly. The more they stand out, the better. If you are asked about them, use the opportunity to share with the questioner that a person is never too young to have a stroke. If you have a personal story to share, I challenge you to be bold enough to share it. If you are hesitant about sharing it, then communicate to others that stroke is not a disease only affecting the elderly.

Take a picture of your feet in these shoes, and post it to social media – to Facebook, Twitter, whatever. Include the hashtag #redshoes4youngstroke when you post it. Tag others in your posts whom you feel will care about this cause and participate. If you have the financial means to do so, consider making a donation to the American Stroke Association, National Stroke Association, Young Stroke, or another not-for-profit organization you feel has been supportive of the young stroke population. I will watch for interesting red shoe pictures with the #redshoes4youngstroke hashtag to come along, and will repost some of them with permission on The Stroke Blog.

Wearing my red shoes at the International Stroke Conference about 20 minutes before this blog post!

Moments before hitting “publish” for this post – hoping to bring more awareness around the plight of young stroke patients.

I’ll start. While purchasing a pair of boots for the winter online in January of this year, amazon.com recommended these shoes to me. I thought this was bizarre, as they looked nothing like the boots I had just purchased, but then it seemed almost fated. Somehow amazon.com knew me better than I knew myself, and realized that I would want these there’s-no-place-like-home shoes. Indeed I did, because I instantly decided to call them my “stroke awareness shoes.”

I wore them a few times earlier this month while caring for patients in the hospital to see how people would react, and I received multiple comments each day from patient family members, people in elevators, other parents when I picked my son up from basketball practice. I practiced giving my 20 second spiel about a person never being too young to have a stroke, and it resulted in a number of engaging conversations. Some people even said they would join me in wearing red shoes to raise stroke awareness!

I also want to thank the neurology residents at Duke University, who are not only fantastic physicians, but who have been my sounding board as I have contemplated this. They have been full of great ideas!

I am currently attending the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference, and am wearing my red shoes. I am encouraged at the response I have gotten over the course of the morning, and feel certain this can extend beyond those who care for stroke patients.

With greater awareness comes greater funding for research, greater compassion for the plight of a group of survivors, and greater understanding of an issue that exists in our society. Let’s wear our red shoes!