She was getting cleaned up to go shopping when her right arm went limp and numb.
Hardeman tried to tell her boyfriend what was happening, but her words came out as gibberish.
Terrified, she choked out, “Call my dad.”
Fortunately, they were visiting her parents in California, and her father, an M.D., was nearby.
It took him just seconds to assess her symptoms: numbness on one side, inability to speak.
He called 911 and told the operator that his daughter was having a stroke.
More than 100,000 women under 65 will have a stroke this year.
There’s no single reason for this troubling trend.
Many stroke risk factors are rare, but when combined, they’re enough to raise concern.
Doctors may inadvertently make things worse by assuming that a twentysomething woman couldn’t possibly have one.
That’s a big part of why keeping an eye out for signs of a stroke is crucial.
There are also a few things it’s possible for you to do to minimize your risk.
But other risk factors are increasingly recognized as affecting the young and healthy.
She tried to tell her 7-year-old daughter something was wrong but couldn’t get the words out.
Within minutes, her speech returned, and she contacted paramedics.
Estrogen raises risk incrementally, so even the lowest-dose birth control pills may pose a slight hazard.
The patch, which can deliver higher doses of estrogen, also poses a slight danger.
There’s a proven link between substance abuse and strokes.
Marijuana and amphetamines have also been implicated, as has cocaine use.
In Hardeman’s case, the cause of the tear is a mystery.
“It could have been surfing, yoga or sleeping in an awkward position on my cross-country flight.
I’ll never know,” she says.
Thanks to their adaptable brains, young people generally recover more fully from strokes than older people.
Hardeman felt numbness in her arm for a month after her stroke, and fatigue for almost three.
Yet 10 months later, she finished a marathon.
Today she’s blogging about her experience and trying to create a stroke awareness group for young women.
“We’re the new face of this illness,” she says.
“Young women need to know the symptoms.”
Photo Credit: Andy Gilmore
