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MURRAY — Doctors say quick thinking saved the life of a Missouri man on business in Salt Lake City earlier this week. He quickly got help after recognizing the signs he was having a stroke.
Mike Blackwell, 67, was working at a car dealership in the service area Tuesday when he began to feel light headed.
“I got out of the car and felt a little faint,” he said. “As I walked to the back of the car, I thought, 'Boy that’s weird, maybe it’s just the heat.'”
But he said it was only 84 degrees. Then he got an email from his office in Kansas City. He called his secretary and that’s when he knew something was very wrong.
“When I started talking to her, I realized that I was slurring my words really bad, and I could barely understand myself.”
During an ischemic stroke, about 32,000 brain cells die every second, just shy of 2 million brain cells (die) every minute. The faster a person gets treatment, the faster blood flow can be restored to the brain.
–Kelly Anderson, Intermountain Medical Center
He hung up, but shortly after the call, he said he knew he needed help immediately.
“I was numb on the left side of my face, my arm, my leg,” he said. “I called her back and I said, ‘Mary, I think I’m having a stroke.'”
While keeping him on the line, Mary called the dealership and told them he was in the back having a stroke and needed an ambulance right away. A short time later, Blackwell was on his way to Intermountain Medical Center.
Kelly Anderson, the stroke program coordinator at Intermountain Medical Center, said when Blackwell arrived in the emergency room he was having slurred speech, some vision problems and some weakness. After evaluating him, they gave him IV of tPA (tissue plasminogen activator), a powerful clot-busting agent.
He was having an ischemic stroke. Anderson said Blackwell had a blood clot in the artery that supplies blood to the brain stem. These types of strokes account for about 87 percent of all cases.
“During an ischemic stroke, about 32,000 brain cells die every second, just shy of 2 million brain cells (die) every minute,” Anderson said. The faster a person gets treatment, the faster blood flow can be restored to the brain.
Related:
Mommy Medicine: Understanding a stroke
Because of the increase in stroke-awareness campaigns over the past few years, there is a lot of information about the condition readily available to the public. In fact, there is so much information that many find it all difficult to understand.The biggest thing that saved his life, Anderson said, was he quickly recognized he was having a stroke and got help right away. “He knew the importance of not waiting to see if it was going to get worse,” she said.
Blackwell had a stroke five years ago, but he said the symptoms were different. He said he was grateful for the care he has received.
Just two days after the stroke, he was walking and talking like normal and has no lingering effects from his stroke, hospital officials said.
“This is why I come to work every day,” Anderson said. “It's great to see someone who was on the verge of having a life-altering disability and he's going to walk out of here in the next couple days."
Email: vvo- duc@ksl.com
