COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A stroke can happen to anyone, at any time.
It happened to one of our own on live television. News anchor Julie Chin of KJRH in Oklahoma suffered a stroke.
Her stroke occurred while trying to read her script about the Artemis 1 mission when she noticed something wasn’t right.
“I apologize to everybody…” is what Chin said after patiently trying to read through her script before passing off to the next segment to collect herself.
Because her colleagues were quick to act while she was on-air, they recognized the signs that she was actually having a stroke. Medical professionals with Baylor Scott & White said time is everything.
“If we don’t act fast enough and intervene it could lead to life-altering disabilities,” said Cory Authement, emergency department manager for Baylor Scott & White.
Acting fast is what one local man did during a stroke he went through a few months ago.
“I was just out hanging with some buddies, and next thing you know my leg started to go numb on me – that was my first sign of something wasn’t right,” said Bill Lartigue, a local stroke survivor.
According to information by the CDC, every 40 seconds someone in the United States has a stroke, reducing mobility in more than half of stroke survivors age 65 and older.
Authement says prevention starts with watching your health to lower your chances of experiencing a stroke.
“The preventive side for strokes are really going to be tailored to that general health – we want you to make sure you are making those routine visits to your primary care doctor and make your annual visits, also keeping your cholesterol in check and blood pressure,” said Authement.
Lartigue had his family and friends to lean on in his quick recovery process and offers his words of encouragement for those in recovery and says rehab is very important after a stroke.
“Remember rehab…Be okay with not being okay but get on your horse and start working towards getting better than you were before the stroke," he said.