32岁时的中风促使她彻底改变了职业道路

厌倦了大流行期间足不出户, Sarah Rood signed up for a half marathon and started jogging regularly around her neighborhood in Wyandotte, 密歇根, 准备.

她说:“我对跑步又爱又恨。. “我跑得不好，也跑得不快. But I wanted to prove to myself that I could set a goal, work toward it and achieve it."

2022年2月，鲁德的手臂麻木了. Suspecting a pinched nerve, she called her mother, who noticed that her speech was slurred. When Rood looked in the mirror and saw that her smile was uneven, her mother called 911.

救护车来的时候, 鲁德再也不能清晰地表达她的思想了, 她给朋友发短信也有困难. “那是我失去理智的时候，”她说. “有些地方不对劲."

鲁德的症状在救护车里开始好转. 她能说得更清楚了，手臂也能正常活动了. Although still anxious, she started to feel like things would be OK. 她说:“我32岁，没有重大的病史。. “这些都不应该成为一件事."

At first, the paramedics thought Rood's symptoms might be caused by Bell's palsy or anxiety. She had struggled with anxiety since she was young and had a particular fear of medical issues.

But a CT scan at the hospital revealed that she had suffered a stroke caused by a blood clot on the left side of her brain. 在她停止哭泣之后, Rood called one of her best friends and asked her to take care of her Husky mixes, 罗里和船长, while she stayed in the hospital for further tests and observation.

那天晚些时候, an ambulance transported Rood to a larger hospital in Detroit that was better equipped to care for stroke patients. 因为她的症状已经消退了, doctors there decided against treating her with a commonly used type of clot-busting drug called tPA. "They didn't think it was necessary and said that the risk outweighed the benefits," she said.

而不是, 他们给鲁德静脉注射血液稀释剂, 做了进一步的检查并继续监测她的情况吗.

Many strokes in young people are caused by a small hole between the heart's upper chambers called a PFO, 或者卵圆孔未闭, 哪一种可以让血凝块进入大脑. 但检查显示她没有PFO. Doctors also performed blood clotting testing but did not find a significant problem.

最糟糕的是不知道是什么导致了中风. Worried that it would happen again, she fretted about driving or being alone at home. When she woke up in the middle of the night with numbness and tingling in her hand, she drove herself to the emergency room and was admitted for observation. 结果，她得了腕管综合症.

While anxiety was a constant companion, Rood was feeling better and better physically. 中风三个月后, she participated in her second half marathon in the Hamptons in New York. While not beating her previous time, she was able to successfully complete the course.

几个月后, 大约在她中风一年后, Rood participated in another half marathon at a popular theme park in Florida, 在过去的基础上有所进步. “这是一种庆祝，”她说. “我意识到我仍然可以这样做."

Feeling personally connected to the mission of the 美国心脏协会, Rood applied for and landed a job as a marketing communications director for the AHA in Southeast 密歇根. 并决心提高人们对中风的认识, 尤其是年轻女性, Rood often quizzes her friends about the signs and symptoms of stroke. 她的信息很直接.

"If anything feels off or abnormal, it's important to get checked out quickly," she said. “即使你年轻健康，也有可能发生在你身上."