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SALT LAKE CITY — It's something many of us don't think about until it happens, but once it does, it's life-changing.
We're talking about a stroke. And as one young woman learned, it can happen to anyone — no matter your age, sex or fitness level.
There is nothing about 26-year-old Kristy Harding that says "stroke victim". She is young, vibrant, and appears to be the picture of health. But Harding has in fact suffered two strokes, and it all began when she was just 22.
"I would have vertigo spells and that would happen about once a month, and it would typically be about a day," she said. "And it would debilitate me to the point that I wouldn't be able to move my head."
The vertigo spells continued for two years, and no doctors could give her any answers. Then, one day in church, she had a frightening episode.
"The room started to spin, and my vision got blurry and my speech got slurred," Harding said. "My arms were retracted … from lack of oxygen and the right side of my body was completely paralyzed."
Not knowing what was happening, Harding went home and took a nap, and woke up with a splitting headache. All of her motor functions came back, and it wasn't until a later conversation with her father that she thought she should go see a doctor.
"He said, ‘It looked like you had a mini-stroke,'" Harding said.
A week and a half after the episode, a doctor told her it was a panic attack. Three months later, she went to a neurologist for a second opinion who told her it was migraines. But after looking at a brain scan, the specialist called Kristy with some shocking news.
"She said, ‘You've had two strokes,'" Harding said. "I sat there just in disbelief. I was 24 and I wasn't supposed to have strokes. I was healthy."
After more testing, doctors discovered Kristy had a congenital heart defect and had three holes in her heart. A surgery corrected the problem, and now Kristy is back to living a normal, healthy life.
She knows she is very lucky, and now she wants to share her story with all who will listen. Don't ignore the signs of a stroke.
"With strokes, it can happen to anyone," she said. "I had perfect blood pressure, I never had a family history of it, so you don't have to have all the signs that you could potentially have a stroke."
