I’m 20 years old and I had a stroke...

If you couldn’t tell by the title, I suffered from a stroke. It took myself and everyone I know completely by surprise, I had no pre-existing health conditions (at least none we knew of), I had no vices (except for junk food every now and then); however, 20 years of not so good eating wouldn't have caused that much damage.

Anyway, it all went down on a Thursday evening when I was trying to film a youtube video to start my Youtube career. Safe to say that was a flop lol (you’ll read more about this later). I had this immense pressure in my head and my whole world fell off its axis. I also heard this weird ringing sound that I like to compare to a bug chirping into a tin can. Don't ask me why, it's the only way I could articulate it. I began feeling nauseous and I spent the rest of the night throwing up. Keep in mind, even when I'm sick or absolutely obliterated after a night out, I will make it to the bathroom or a garbage can. This was the first red flag when I was unable to do that.

The following morning at about 6 am I made my way to the washroom so that I could lay on the cold tile floor. Since I was younger it's one thing that usually makes me feel a bit better. My mom came to check on me and asked me to contact my boss to notify him that I wouldn't be coming into work. I first tried leaving him a voicemail. To my surprise it played back my message, and thank god it did because he would have thought I was hammered if he heard how slurred my speech was. I decided to send a text message instead. My vision was incredibly blurry and I kept having to move the phone closer to and farther away from my face to focus better. This was red flag number 2, since once again, no matter what state I have been in, this has never happened to me.

Time went on and my mom continued to check in on me in between her conference calls since she was working from home. The nausea began to disappear so I kept telling her that I was feeling better. I started to notice something may have been wrong when I was trying to reach for my phone above my head. I was laying down and I tried reaching for it with my left hand. There didn't seem to be enough strength in my hand to pull it towards me so I just thought, "Hm, I'll try the right hand instead." A thought crossed my mind that I might be having a stroke, but my dumbass couldn't smell burnt toast, an alleged myth for what happens when you have a stroke. Plus the fact that I'm 20 made that seem a little far fetched.

At around 3pm, my mom brought me back to my room. I literally had to crawl since I didn't have the strength to get up. I took every opportunity to sleep since it really was the only thing I was capable of doing. My mom gave me a couple iBuprofens and imodiums in an attempt to make me feel better. At around 5 pm my boyfriend called me asking what I had done all day. I responded with, "Nothing." He was surprised with my response and concern began to set in. My phone died a few minutes into the conversation. By some miracle I was able to reach down next to my bed, pull the charger off the ground and plug my phone in. I called him back crying as all the efforts to simply plug in my phone left me worried. I told him that nothing was getting better and I couldn't feel my left side. He called my mom and it was only at about 6pm that the ambulance was called. They would have transported me themselves but my body was half deadweight. I waited almost a whole day before going to the hospital since no one could have ever imagined the situation to be as severe as it was.

Upon the paramedic's arrival, they had me sit up for the first time in almost 24 hours. It was the first time anybody could get a good look at my face. They asked me to smile and instantly they noticed that the left side of my face was paralyzed. I was brought to the hospital and they performed a cat scan that showed some abnormalities. They had to perform an emergency MRI that confirmed the stroke in 3 parts of my brain. I knew I had a stroke but I really didn't want to know it was real.

That same evening I was admitted to the ICU. The next day, my room was flooded with family that left me incredibly overwhelmed with sadness, joy and some other emotions I can't name. My heart rate spiked to 150+. I couldn't walk, talk and I had no movement in my left arm or hand.

The next 3 weeks consisted of blood tests, other random tests, lots of medication, tummy needles, therapy of all sorts and most importantly, support from my family and so so many friends. People I hadn't ever spoken to or perhaps rarely spoken to reached out to me to send me their well wishes. For that I am forever grateful, and I feel as though that contributed to my speedy recovery. My age also helps a bit. They say that it typically takes a minimum of 4 months for a stroke patient to recover. I was back to work in only 4 weeks, I was determined to get out of what I called "jail". Mind you it's the nicest jail ever since I don't even have to bathe myself if I didn't want to. I say that because I've never known what it's like to not be able to leave somewhere. Especially because it's not even my fault I'm there.

After all the tests and perplexed doctors, they were able to determine a probable cause for my stroke. Turns out, I was born with a hole in my heart that allowed for the blood to flow in the opposite direction than it's supposed to. Whether or not the clot was formed there or somewhere else in my body, the hole acted as the perfect gateway to my artery, then my brain.

I look at this situation as a really sucky one but I also have a lot of positives. Had it not happened, the hole in my heart that wouldn't have otherwise been identified could have caused a collapsed lung later in life, when I am much less resilient. I also realized that there are much bigger things in life to worry about since I used to be such a worrier. I still am but not near as much. I've learned that there are so many people who care for me, even if they aren't regularly present in my life, so I should never feel alone. I just wanted to share some of my takeaways so that I could make a sad situation not seem so bad. I also don't want anyone to experience what I did in order to learn these lessons.

2 months later, I’ve just had my consultation and diagnostic tests for my hole closure. I can’t say it was a very good experience since they had trouble getting the IV in for a test, even after trying both arms. I started crying immediately. My mom bought me ice cream after to feel better, almost like I was a little kid.

My spirits have also been a little down because of this whole quarantine thing. I especially cannot come into contact with anyone or anything due to my underlying health conditions. I had to miss my 1 year with my boyfriend :( I’ve really been trying to take the advice that I provided above at this time. I’ve also tried to spend lots of time working on my YouTube that started this whole mess and I’m hoping that will make me feel a lot better! I’ve been wanting to invest in a new camera but they’re super expensive and I wasn’t able to work when in the hospital :( Hopefully all of this will look up!

If you made it this far, thanks for listening to my story. I wish you all the best :)