Woman who suffered shock stroke in her sleep at 26 reveals first symptoms she noticed
A woman who suffered a stroke in her sleep at 26 has revealed the symptoms she woke up to at 2am, admitting she didn't notice her 'drooped face' until the next day.
Niamh Foster has opened up about being hospitalized in 2024 after experiencing a stroke in the middle of the night.
Now 28, she sits in the rare group, 28 per 100,000 people in the US, who suffer a stroke between the ages of 20 and 44 - as per Stamford Health.
Despite displaying the textbook symptoms, Foster noted: "I didn't think stroke because at 26 that would have been the last thing [you thought of]."
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Speaking with This Morning, the advocate recalled waking up at 2:30am feeling 'restless' and 'uncomfortable'.
But it wasn't until her partner Reece was just about to head out for work, that they both noticed her 'drooped face'.
"I had cramp on my right hand side, which now you know my right hand side was affected," she said.
Luckily for the couple, their house in the UK was located just a short distance from the hospital, and Foster recalled being 'rushed through' to have an MRI scan.
Speaking about the shock she felt when doctors told her she had suffered a stroke, Foster said: "I remember not really realizing the gravity of it because I wasn't really in the know. "
"I didn't know about strokes. There was no stroke awareness, I thought they happened to older people."
The 28-year-old noted that she didn't experience any kind of pain during the medical emergency, but noted that the whole experience felt very 'surreal'.
Why did she suffer a stroke at 26?
Foster was later told that the stroke had been caused by a hole in her heart, which she noted was 'quite common'.
According to the American Heart Association, roughly 1 in 4 people (25%) have a minor, flap-like opening called a patent foramen ovale.
Many are found by accident during routine scans or tests.
How did she recover?
While Foster noted that her stroke was 'the medical emergency itself', she added that the 'recovery is the whole beginning of a new story'.
She said: "I had no idea that two years nearly post stroke I would still be recovery. I had an occupational therapy session yesterday."
Symptoms of stroke
The Stroke Association uses the 'FAST' acronym to spot the early signs of the medical emergency.
'FAST' stands for Face, Arms, Speech, Time, and prompts a person to ask themselves the following questions:
- Can the person smile? Has their mouth or eye drooped?
- Can the person raise both arms fully and keep them there?
- Can the person speak clearly and understand what you say? Is their speech slurred?
- Call 911 if you see any one of these signs.
Topics: Health, This Morning
Mia Williams