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>> I was in the kitchen, I came upstairs.
I felt warm.
I called my son for some cold water.
My arm started feeling funny,
it felt like there was something
tied around it or a rubber band or something.
I don't know. My speech was messed up.
Go get Doreen.
Cause I'm still hearing myself.
I'm like something's not right.
Doreen came in and said, oh, no, ma.
You're having a stroke. You have to go to the hospital.
>> Althea came to the hospital in time and she
was having a relatively large size stroke.
If the large blood vessel remained blocked,
the stroke could have progressed to her having loss of
language as well as
permanent weakness on the right side of her body.
>> [inaudible] you know, luckily you got here when
you did because they was able to give me the Clot Buster.
>> With the TPA, the clot-busting medication.
The medication did its job to open the blood vessel,
remove the blood clot so that the blood flow could be
restored to that area that was already receiving some damage.
You could see here that that's the area of damage.
Althea would have been at risk to have a stroke this big if not
for the medication that she received that
minimized the size of the stroke.
>> They was looking at me and I was talking.
Next thing I was [inaudible] I just
started talking regularly it was amazing.
>> So many people say it's like a traffic jam.
We know you have a blood vessel that's blocked with a traffic jam.
This TPA just creates a lane so that blood can pass through again.
She's had a good clinical result and while we're really
wanting to make sure we reduce her risk for a future stroke.
Once Althea made it through the emergency department,
she came up to the stroke unit,
which is a place where
patients come to have very close monitoring with Nursing and
Neurology where she could really start
the diagnostic testing of why the stroke
happened to her on this particular day.
>> I could feel the pressure.
>> It's really critical in those first hours
and days that we get patients on
the right medications to prevent
further strokes from happening, recurrent strokes.
She underwent a series of
expedited tests when she was on our floor.
>> Push up. Excellent.
>> The second branch of what we work
on immediately upon arrival is getting
recovery from the symptoms of strokes that
people can return to their productive lives.
>> I was so glad I made it here to get
the Cloud Buster because I wouldn't be where I am right now.
I wouldn't be talking like this.
I wouldn't be walking up. I could go to the bathroom by myself.
I can take a shower by myself.
I don't need help. I don't have to worry about
standing up and falling over and stuff like that.
>> Seeing a patient who goes from
having severe weakness on one side of their body and having
devastating symptoms where they can't function for
themselves to being essentially
independent again like Althea was,
walking and talking just fine.
It's a really rewarding career.
Researchers here are really figuring out
how to tackle at the highest level,
the motor recovery after stroke.
We're using innovative video games
to help people to engage in their therapies.
We're looking at different ways that we can help the brain
re-circuit itself to move
around the disabilities that people have.
We're trying to find new drugs and new therapies that
can extend the window of who is eligible for stroke treatments.
I think taking this comprehensive approach to research here
at Johns Hopkins will really
benefit future stroke patients tremendously.
>> I was lucky. Everybody around me walks fast.
I got here fast and I got the Clot Buster fast.
>> It is really critical for people to know
that if you have signs of weakness,
numbness, change in how you're speaking,
change in how you're seeing.
You should call 9-1-1 and come to the hospital,
let the evaluation happen and if there's nothing going wrong,
you can be sent home that same day.
But if it is a stroke, there could be
therapies that could reverse the symptoms.
>> I feel blessed. Know your body,
listen to your body.
You can prevent a lot and you can be saved like me, I was saved.
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