A Stroke at 39

2022 ended unexpectedly.

On December 28th, while visiting New York over the holidays, I had an ischemic stroke at 39 years old.

In an instant, my whole reality changed. My vision split in two and became distorted; my face, mouth and tongue went numb; my world was spinning and I was overcome by a feeling of discombobulation and dizziness. Though I was conscious and able to speak, my words and comprehension felt like they were moving through glue. In the immediate moments, I wasn’t sure how bad this would be, and I am so thankful to have had Jen by my side and our dear friends close by to take me to the emergency room.

The following week was spent in the hospital under observation and running a barrage of tests—CT scans and MRIs of my brain, echocardiograms, EKGs, blood work, and more. It was determined that I had a stroke—two strokes, in fact. A blood clot had split to both sides of my brain, blocking flow to my thalamus.

Miraculously, there was no major or long-lasting detriment. I repeatedly heard from doctors how much worse this could have been. This truly left me with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude…and as cheesy as it sounds, a second lease on life.

The question was what caused this. And, through more tests like a transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE), it was discovered that I had a large patent foramen ovale (PFO)—a congenital hole between the upper chambers of the heart. It was suspected that a blood clot formed in my leg from a long flight, traveled through the hole, and into the bloodstream to my brain.

My doctors recommended to surgically close the hole by permanently implanting a device via catheter into my heart. I successfully had that surgery on March 28th, three months to the day of my stroke and eight days after my 40th birthday.

Now, as the dust settles from the last few months, there’s a new reality of shouldering a mountain of costs from these hospital stays, tests, procedures, appointments, medications, and heart surgery.

Luckily I have insurance which has helped—otherwise, I would be buried under these bills (the total for all the tests, procedures, hospital stays, and surgery would have been over $300,000). That said, the out-of-pocket costs are sizable, and I have had to dip into savings, divert income, and delay other financial decisions due to these expenses.

Even though I’d like to avoid asking family and friends for assistance, I realized that now is the time I need your love and support.

This GoFundMe campaign has a goal of $15,000. Your contributions will allow me to offset just a portion of these out-of-pocket costs, and allow a focus on recovering and building back to normalcy after these events. If you have the means to contribute, or share this campaign to your network, that would mean so much.

I am extremely grateful to have you all in my life. Our time here is unpredictable, and I am not exaggerating when I say how lucky I feel to be here and spend more time with the people I love. Thank you, and I hope to see you soon with my newly revamped heart!

#strokeat39