Battling
medical issues since birth, Meredith Harper and her family knew of general health
Meredith was a pre-med student who had
completed an internship and given presentations on heart and stroke health. She has always had a gift for helping and
caring for others, and even wrote a short book for stroke survivors which
included information and exercises for recovery.
At the shocking age of 22, Meredith
experienced her first stroke. She had
been in the emergency room four times prior to this day with Transient Ischemic
Attacks (TIA), but the medical professionals dismissed further concern due to
her young age. Her first stroke was
brought on by a clot after experiencing arrhythmia. Meredith experienced
this stroke while she was home from college on Christmas Break; fortunately she
was with family who knew what was happening and brought her to the hospital
immediately. Meredith reported feeling
as if her head was swollen prior to this, and was unable to speak when the
stroke occurred. She had major weakness
on the right side of her body, and displayed drooping in her face.
Due to the significant impact the stroke had
on her, Meredith's "life changed drastically." For the second time in her life, Meredith had
to learn how to read, write, walk and talk again. She was no longer the athlete she had poured
much of her time and energy into during previous years of her life. Some of her friends and family members even
had difficulty handling the ways in which the stroke changed Meredith's
life. According
to her mother, who became her main caregiver, Meredith faced this incident as
she had with other challenges in her life: she didn't let it hold her back. Her
mother remembers, "she was determined to get better as fast as
possible." She had new limits to
accept, but Meredith was able to defy the odds and went back to school to
graduate just two years later!
Decision
making and task completion often took her longer than they used to, and she was
unable to return to some of her favourite activities, but her positivity and determination pushed her along the path of
recovery. She was overseen by a stroke
team following the incident, and knew to be mindful of any changes in her body
which didn't seem right. Family members
were Meredith's best advocates, and they stress
the importance of pushing doctors and other medical staff by asking questions
to become as knowledgeable as possible.
They recall how difficult it was to obtain information related to stroke
in young individuals, and reflect on how lives can be saved by spreading
awareness.
The best advice Meredith and
her family pass along to others is to always believe when something doesn't
feel right, and to never take anything for granted, as they have learned firsthand "...life can change in a
second."
Picture credit: Paul Olsen
Story source: http://youngstroke.org/
