Estimated duration: 3-4 minutes
OGDEN — Brad and Melissa Coleman were en route to a young kid’s soccer game when his speech started being slandered.
She stopped at a red light, looked over at her husband, and saw that the left side of his face was drooping. When the symptoms started hitting him, North Ogden’s Brad Coleman said he didn’t believe it could be a stroke — he was just 36.
Melissa Coleman also denied it, but as symptoms persisted, she took her husband to the nearest emergency room.
Brad was on thrombectomy drugs, but it was decided he needed to go to Intermountain Health’s McKady Hospital for mechanical thrombectomy. This is a special emergency procedure to remove a blood clot in the brain that is causing the stroke and its symptoms. .
“We knew it was a great hospital, so we knew he would get the best care here,” said Melissa Coleman. “That was our goal.” It took just 13 minutes from arriving at the ER to having the clot removed, Brad Coleman said.
Due to the successful operation, all his stroke symptoms have resolved.
“That’s the most important factor: how quickly you get treatment and how quickly you can resolve it to minimize the damage to your brain,” said Brad Coleman. I can’t say enough good things about Dr and his staff, their prompt response and the excellent care they provided.”
Sudden onset is the biggest clue to stroke.
– Dr. Melissa McDonald
McKadie received Accredited Primary Stroke Center from the Joint Commission in 2007, has performed thrombectomy in hundreds of patients since 2011. The program recently received rigorous and broad accreditation by the Joint Commission, making it the first nationally accredited thrombectomy-capable stroke center in Utah.
According to Dr. Michael Webb, McKay-Dee’s vascular and IVR specialist, it was a process that “went over many years.” The new designation entitles hospitals to certain protocols that allow emergency technicians to bypass other hospitals and take patients directly to McKady for critical care.
“Treatment of stroke effectively is a big team effort,” Webb said. “What makes us unique, especially in Northern Utah, is our team that has been trained for years to care for these patients who have truly unique and urgent needs.
“Most gratifyingly, stroke is a frightening and debilitating disease process, but for many patients who receive timely care, their condition can be greatly improved, if not normalized. is.
Even though all the physical effects were reversed, Brad Coleman noted that the stroke still left emotional scars.
“I didn’t expect the mental effects of a stroke,” he said. “The biggest question in my mind was, ‘Will this happen again, and if it happens again, will I be as lucky as the first time?'”
Doctors still don’t know why Brad Coleman had a stroke at such a young age.
Dr. Melissa McDonald, Stroke Neurologist at McKady, said: “I know it can happen at almost any age.”
“There is definitely a link between COVID and stroke in young people,” McDonald said, because COVID-19 makes blood more clotting, making some patients more susceptible to stroke. . Other predisposing factors may include hereditary clotting or heart abnormalities.
Whatever the cause, McDonald says the best way to tell if someone is having a stroke is if the individual is off balance, drooping face, slurred speech, or weak arms. He said it is important to remember some of the important symptoms of
And, she said, immediate treatment of stroke is essential.
“A sudden onset is the biggest clue you’re having a stroke,” McDonald said. I recommend that you go to a stroke center as soon as possible.”
