By Wendi Hope Bishop, Editor

“You never expect to go into a class and learn something that you actually use to save someone’s life,” says Betty McGuire as she sits next to her husband, Jack, in their home. Surrounded by knick knacks, family pictures and an extensive model car collection that all started with a little yellow ‘57, Betty and Jack’s home is filled with warm love and care, particularly as Betty helps nurse Jack back to health.

Betty and Jack were busy enjoying life with their furniture store (J&B Furniture) that opened in 1984, four antique cars that they enjoyed showing, four children, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. However in January 2007, Jack suffered a massive stroke that left him with many obstacles that he and his wife of 25 years would have to face. The miracle of this particular story is that it was Betty’s quick reactions and education that saved his life.

In January 2007, the University of Tennessee Medical Center presented a stroke program at a monthly meeting of the Walden Ridge Antique Car Club where Betty and Jack have been members for years. The program taught how to recognize stroke symptoms, what to do if someone was having a stroke and that “there is no such thing as a mini-stroke,” Betty can recall Jennifer Henry, the stroke coordinator at UT Medical Center, saying. Mini-strokes, also known as transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) are a risk factor of stroke with more than one-third of people who have a TIA eventually having a stroke. Therefore, any type of stroke should be taken very seriously, and getting treatment immediately can save lives and reduce disability.

Coincidentally, this program took place just two weeks prior to Jack’s stroke. “I am so thankful for the program,” Betty says. “I would not have known what was going on if I hadn’t been to the class.”

On February 6, Betty was preparing to go to the doctor for a carotid artery screening when she called to her husband in the bedroom. With no answer, except an unintelligible noise, she made her way into the room to make sure he was awake and ready to go out for the day. Instead, she found him on the floor. “He has had a lot of leg pain recently, so I just thought he was having leg pains,” she explains. “I went over to him, and when I saw he wasn’t using his right side to help me get him onto the bed, I knew he was having a stroke.”

Through tears, Betty explains the difficulty of trying to aid her husband and call for help. “I called my son and 911,” she says. “The paramedics came really fast and helped Jack sit up. He was dead weight and so hard to move. I just wish that I would have recognized his symptoms sooner.” Looking back, Betty can remember that he didn’t feel well for some time. He also was experiencing numbness in his fingers from time to time. But it was Betty’s swift actions that saved Jack.

The ambulance took him to the hospital in Harriman where he was diagnosed with a stroke. They were unable to apply the first line of treatment – t-PA, which breaks up blood clots and restores blood flow – because Betty could not tell when his symptoms actually started, which is key to receiving that treatment. People who receive this medicine are less likely to have long-term impairment, however, anyone who receives this treatment must have had a stroke caused by clotting and the treatment can only be given if the onset of symptoms was within three hours. “I knew he had been up during the night, I just didn’t know what time,” she says. “So I have no idea when symptoms started.”

The hospital decided that Jack needed the expertise of the stroke team at UT Medical Center where he received excellent care. “The nurses on the 10th floor were superb,” Betty says thankfully. “The ICU, that’s when you feel like everyone around you is family. They all cared what was happening. They all treated him so well, we couldn’t have asked for more.”

When someone is having a stroke, tests are completed to give physicians information to help determine the source of stroke. Once the source of stroke is identified, then measures such as medications to control blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar often are started to prevent future strokes. If a person experiencing stroke does not meet the criteria for t-PA, then medicines that prevent platelets from “sticking” together are started as soon as possible to prevent another stroke. Blood pressure, heart rate, breathing and neurological status are monitored very frequently so that nurses can pick up on any changes in condition quickly.

Many people who experience stroke have difficulty swallowing, so ability to swallow must be determined before having anything to eat or drink. It’s important to be evaluated by physical, occupational and speech therapy as soon as possible. Rehabilitation should be started when the medical professional recommends in order to achieve the best outcome.

Thanks to his excellent treatment, Jack can now walk 25 feet with the aid of a hemi-walker, has wonderful strength in the left side, he can write some and helps with some chores, Betty reports. “It is miraculous that he has recovered like he has,” she says.

Betty’s message is loud and clear. “If I hadn’t been to that class and learned about stroke, I would not have been able to do anything,” she says. “Strokes happen to everyone. I hope that these programs that UT Medical Center takes out to the community continue. Even children should be able to recognize stroke symptoms. The sooner you can seek treatment the better.”

Jack continues his rehabilitation, which includes physical therapy and speech therapy and consistently shows improvement.

After everything Betty and Jack have been through, they are looking forward to returning to their beloved antique car shows. They couldn’t be any more thankful for the stroke education that they received from UT Medical Center. And as Jack sits on the porch with Betty by his side, Betty drapes her arm around his shoulders and looks at him with a smile. “He has a great outlook,” she reports. “We take one day at a time.”

Visit the Brain and Spine Institute for Stroke Information and online Stroke Risk Assessments.