Kids Have Strokes Too! Did you know that? I sure didn’t, in fact I didn’t think much about strokes at all back then. It certainly wasn’t something that had affected me or my immediate circle. What made me think about it was the words that came out of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit doctors' mouth when he said “Your [2 day old] son suffered a massive stroke. He lost almost his entire left side of his brain. I don’t know what to tell you except that your child will likely never walk or talk. And if he can use his hands, he’ll definitely be left handed.”
My husband and I had taken our newborn son back to the hospital when he did not seem to be responding to any of our efforts to rouse him enough to eat. This diagnosis was delivered after 12 hours in the hospital trying to find out what what wrong with our 2 day old son.
No one could give us any kind of real direction as to what to expect, where to begin, what we needed to do. Not one for dealing with negative outlooks, I hunted down the people I thought might help me and at two months old started therapy with my cute, lovable little boy. 4-5 days a week, every week, every therapy available for 5 years straight. The milestones most new parents wait for, we worked towards. I realized that we would need to physically teach Jack to ‘roll over’ and every other physical milestone he would need to reach.
Today Jack is a healthy, happy, active 12 year old who walks, talks, plays soccer, plays Fortnite and participates in a typical school classroom with his peers. He has diminished use of his right hand, but manages to find a way to do everything he wants to. And the key to all of this is Awareness. I often think of how different his and our life would be if we had not decided to push forward just in case it worked. I imagine for those whose devastating Stroke diagnosis, whether for themselves or for a loved one, brings fear of the unknown that causes them not to seek out answers. If the hope is offered in the form of information, support and awareness, the outcome for our Stroke Survivors is so much more positive.
The incredible information and waiting area provided by the Scott Coopersmith Stroke Awareness Foundation is providing much needed guidance to the families affected by stroke. I know that these families will have a much easier transition to the time that follows on their new path in life because of SCSAF.
I am so grateful to Deanna and Craig and the whole team at SCSAF for giving us the opportunity to share our story along side of theirs. I am also honored to have been able to be a small part of the event that provided a local family new hope. I knew a member of this family personally yet had no idea of the hardship their father's stroke had caused on this wonderful family. Without SCSAF, this family, along with other numerous brave and inspirational survivors I have had the honor of meeting along the way through SCSAF, would not be in such a positive place today.
