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Tribune News Service

During a health fair at her workplace, 23-year-old Emma Rand had her vitals checked.
“Have you seen a doctor in a while?” the nurse asked. “Your blood pressure is pretty high.”
Rand was surprised.
She had been active in school sports. Although she slowed down in university, when a bout with Covid-19 left her feeling lethargic for months, she had recently started exercising again and was feeling great.
The following month, Rand had her annual check-up. Again, her blood pressure was on the higher end.
“Let’s just monitor it,” her doctor said.

A month later, Rand went to a spin class at a gym outside Albany, in the US state of New York, where she lived at the time.
As the second song started, she felt dizzy. She thought water might help. Reaching for her water bottle, she nearly fell off the bike.
The spin instructor noticed. She helped Rand into the hallway and laid her down.
“I can’t feel my right arm,” Rand told the crowd gathering around her. Someone called the US emergency hotline 911.

When the emergency medical technicians (EMTs) arrived, they worked to reduce her high blood pressure.
“We think you have a pinched nerve,” an EMT told her.
“But I can’t feel my arm,” she kept repeating.
Employees at the gym helped her to her feet. They led her around the running track several times. The feeling in her arm started to return, but it felt odd, like she did not have full control over it.
At home, she called her parents, who arrived that evening with a new blood pressure monitor. Rand’s blood pressure was high, so they called the emergency line of her primary doctor’s office. He called her back.
“I think you’re fine, but it’s a good idea to go to cardio urgent care in the morning,” he said.

At urgent care the next day, a Friday, Rand, who is right-handed, struggled to fill out the intake form because her right arm and hand still felt off, so her mother took over. The cardiologist did some lab work and ordered an MRI for the following week.
After the appointment, Rand felt good enough to go shopping and out to dinner with her parents. Her parents drove home on Sunday, and on Monday, Rand went to see her primary doctor. He did not see anything wrong.
The MRI was on Tuesday and her mother returned to accompany Rand. Still thinking everything was routine, they planned to go to brunch afterwards.
After the image was taken, the technician told Rand to stay in the room until medical professionals reviewed the results. Then the technician asked, “Do you have a family member here?”
Rand said yes, and a nurse went to get her mother.

Soon after that, Rand was on the phone with a cardiac nurse. The nurse said: “You’ve had a stroke, and you need to go to the hospital.”
People having a stroke can receive clot-busting medication, providing they get it within 4.5 hours of the onset of symptoms. Rand’s stroke – probably at the spin class – had happened days earlier.
She spent the next three days in hospital, undergoing a litany of tests. The conclusion she received from a cardiologist: “We have no idea what caused it. You’re a healthy 23-year-old.”
She was told to see a neurologist. The next available appointment was months away. Now feeling “like a ticking time bomb”, Rand tried getting on with her life.
She began seeing an occupational therapist to strengthen her right arm and hand. She also needed to relearn sensations. She could not tell hot from cold or where she was being touched.

Two weeks after leaving hospital, she returned to her engineering job. Then came an opportunity to work remotely. She decided to move back in with her parents so they could help with her recovery.
A new cardiologist discovered that Rand had a common congenital heart defect, a hole in the upper chambers of her heart.
Known as a patent foramen ovale, it exists in everyone before birth but usually closes naturally shortly after being born. The hole may have allowed a clot to travel to her brain. She later underwent a procedure to close the hole.
Having the problem resolved eased Rand’s mind. Still, she had work to do to regain full use of her right arm and hand. She became stronger and more flexible doing tasks like chopping or stirring.
Rand had one more hurdle to clear: getting back to exercising. She was afraid because she did not know how hard she could push herself. So she took her cardiologist’s advice and began cardiac rehabilitation.

“I was definitely the youngest person there, but it was one of the best things I did for my recovery,” she said.
Last summer, about a year after her stroke, Rand moved to the US state of Wisconsin, outside Milwaukee, for her job.
She is back to working out at a gym. Except for a slight reduction in grip strength, her arm and hand are back to normal. In December, she was part of the ensemble cast in a community theatre production of A Christmas Carol.
“I’m trying to put myself out there more and try different things,” she said.
Her biggest frustration is a cognitive change since the stroke; she is no longer a master multitasker. Instead, she has learned to write notes to herself to help stay on top of things.
“The best part,” she said, “is that I no longer feel like a ticking time bomb.”
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At 23, a stroke left her a ‘ticking time bomb’. Her high blood pressure had been a warning

Emma Rand had a stroke at age 23, but it took doctors five days and multiple medical appointments to figure that out. Photo: courtesy of the Rand family

High blood pressure was a warning sign before Emma Rand had a stroke at the age of 23. Photo: Shutterstock

It was during a spin class at a gym that Emma Rand felt dizzy and nearly fell off her bike – and probably when she had a stroke. Photo: Shutterstock

Rand (left) with her mother (centre) and her sister. Photo: courtesy of the Rand family

Rand with her parents. Photo: courtesy of the Rand family

An occupational therapist helped Rand to strengthen her right arm and hand and to relearn sensations. Photo: Shutterstock

Rand had a common congenital heart defect known as a patent foramen ovale. This hole in the upper chambers of her heart may have allowed a clot to travel to her brain. Illustration: Shutterstock

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Lifestyle

Health & Wellness

Health

Family & Relationships

Coronavirus

Before her stroke, Emma Rand had been told her blood pressure was high. After a series of tests, doctors revealed what probably caused it


Before her stroke, Emma Rand had been told her blood pressure was high. After a series of tests, doctors revealed what probably caused it.


Disease

Medicine

Coronavirus pandemic: All stories