A stroke patient urges others to pay attention to their symptoms.
The night his “speech was a mess,” John Roberts, a disk jockey with a 27-year career in radio, ignored his symptoms.
“I went to the store to buy cigarettes, and I couldn’t talk. I was so confused,” he recalled.
Rather than call 9-1-1, Roberts went to bed while he was having a stroke.
For years, Roberts, 53, didn’t have a family doctor and ignored his health. “I knew I had high blood pressure, and I was a closet smoker. I didn’t want a doctor telling me I should quit. I thought, ‘I’m invincible; nothing can hurt me.‘”
The next day, he showed up at a company event, and Rose Dunlap, director of operations for the radio station, was among the first to see the change in Roberts.
“We’re a radio family,” she said. “John has been with us for 11 years. We knew something was wrong. John’s speech slurred and his face was kind of droopy.”
Along with others, Dunlap urged Roberts to get to the hospital right away. A coworker, who had been a respiratory therapist, told Roberts that he was probably having a stroke.
After initial treatment in the Emergency Department for an ischemic stroke*, Roberts was admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Mercy Health, where he remained for four days. That’s where he met Becky Toney, Neuroscience Nurse Navigator/Stroke Coordinator.
“In the United States, 800,000 people have strokes every year. Common risk factors for stroke include high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and high cholesterol. Unfortunately, having a stroke is a risk factor for having another stroke,” said Toney.
The acronym to remember for signs of a stroke is B-E F-A-S-T. The letters stand for:
Balance issue
Eye (vision) changes
Facial drooping
Arm/leg numbness or tingling
Slurred speech
Time — get emergency help immediately
“It’s crucial to get to the hospital if you are having signs of a stroke because 1.9 million neurons die every minute. One hour of ischemia ages your brain 3.6 years,” Toney said.
During the four days Roberts was in the hospital, he quit smoking. “I knew I didn’t have a choice. I’ve quit before, but this time they said if I kept smoking, I would die. I needed to stop.”
In the ICU, he kept trying to say that he was fine, “but I knew I wasn’t. And all l could think was, ‘My career is over.’ I thought my identity was going to be gone.”
Depressed and concerned about his future, Roberts was surprised by the hospital environment. “I was encouraged by the staff the whole time I was there. I’m not good at being patient, but they helped me to understand that the brain needed to heal and to give it time.”
Follow-up care after a stroke is essential. “Getting speech, occupational and physical therapy is important too,” said Toney. “John took his therapy seriously.”
“They were right,” Roberts chimed in. “The brain is an amazing thing. Every day, things started coming back.” At just six weeks following his stroke he declared, “My speech is just about 100 percent back, and now I can wink my left eye!”
Attending a stroke support group also helped Roberts adjust to the changes in his life.
“I’m not a support group guy, but I went because I needed to hear what I heard there. The stroke support group was very encouraging because I got meet to all sorts of people who had been through the same thing I had been,” he shared.
Rather than being anxious about going to the doctor, now Roberts looks forward to his follow-up visits, where he can track his progress.
“I had a major incident happen to my body,” he said. “I don’t have a cast or a cane, so many people don’t know I had a stroke. Every day I’m getting stronger. My advice to others is to listen to your body.”
*Ischemic strokes block the blood vessels in the brain.
Mercy Health Stroke Support Group ∙ Muskegon
Date: Second Tuesday of every month
Time: 4:30–6 p.m.
Mercy Campus
1500 E. Sherman Blvd.
Parking is free. Please call 231.672.6501 for more information.
Learn more about the Stroke Support in Muskegon
Mercy Health Stroke Support Group ∙ Grand Rapids
Date: Fourth Monday of every month
Time: 2–3:30 p.m.
Mercy Health Hauenstein Neuroscience Center
220 Cherry Street SE
Conference Room H1
Parking is free. Please call 616.685.5144 for more information.