A 20-year-old girl suffered from severe headaches and numbness of limbs, which she did not take seriously. Meanwhile, these were stroke symptoms, which do not so often occur among patients of such a young age.
Elizabeth Ashmore had a numb hand for almost a month, but she thought it was simply a consequence of rapid growth processes in her body. After one of Sunday family dinners, she complained of a severe headache, and her parents encouraged her to go to sleep early. Liz did so, but, in the morning, she could not get out of bed since she lost the ability to control half of her body.
Moreover, Elizabeth temporarily lost memory and could not even tell the time. At the hospital, the girl was diagnosed with a massive stroke that was a real shock for her and for her parents who could not imagine that this disease could strike their perfectly healthy, slim and very young daughter, who never smoked and loved to do sports.
Doctors discovered she had middle cerebral artery occlusion – the blockage of a brain blood vessel. Perhaps the reason for this was the nephrotic syndrome, which can cause blood clots. Three months later, the 20-year-old student Elizabeth Ashmore returned home after an intensive physiotherapy course.
She still uses a wheelchair because she does not feel her left arm, ankle, and toes of the left foot, but she is set to restore full control over her body after a massive stroke. She wants her story to draw attention to the fact that a stroke can affect very young people. The girl encourages everyone not to ignore suspicious symptoms because this is not old people’s disease. If she saw a doctor in time, perhaps now she would be completely healthy.
