There are those experiences in our lives that blindside us, the ones that come out of nowhere and change our lives forever. For many people, that’s exactly how they would describe having a stroke, a major medical event that can seem to show up out of the blue.
According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH) , a stroke takes place when blood flow to the brain becomes blocked, or there might be sudden bleeding in the brain. As Stanford Medicine reports, most strokes occur in people aged 65 and older. But what you may not know is that a surprising 10% of individuals younger than 45 can also experience strokes.
Kevin Hudson, a husband and father, is one of those 10% who had a stroke before his 44 th birthday.
Everything Seemed Normal
Just two weeks shy of turning 44, 43-year-old Hudson was continuing to carry out his healthy lifestyle habits. He worked out daily, stuck to a balanced diet, went to annual physicals, wasn't overweight, and didn't smoke or drink excessively.
As the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says, anyone can have a stroke at any age. Still, certain things can put a person more at risk, like having high blood pressure and high cholesterol, having heart disease or diabetes, and having less-than-ideal lifestyle habits including a diet high in saturated fat, not getting enough physical activity, and drinking too much alcohol.
Hudson was correct—he wasn’t at high risk for a stroke, and his doctor agreed. “By all measures, I was low-risk and healthy,” he emphasizes.
Hudson did have a family link to strokes (as the American Heart Association says, a family history increases the risk of stroke)—his paternal grandfather had several strokes—“but we assumed that he was a man of his generation,” he says. “He drank and smoked, was a World War II veteran, and had a hard life. The family assumed it was environmental and lifestyle choices.”
Related: This Is the One Thing Stroke Doctors Say You Should Absolutely Never Do
How a Routine Workout At the Gym Changed Everything
In the weeks leading up to his medical emergency, Hudson felt fine and normal, as he says, and nothing felt “off.”
On January 11, 2023, Hudson went to the gym for an early morning workout at the YMCA. Then, around 5:40 a.m., something went amiss.
Traditionally, as the American Stroke Association and numerous other health associations have shared, there is an acronym that individuals can follow if they suspect a stroke. They are the “F.A.S.T.” warning signs , which stand for Face Drooping, Arm Weakness, Speech Difficulty, and Time to Call 911.
Other symptoms can include numbness in the face, arm, or leg, particularly if it’s one side of the body, confusion, trouble seeing, trouble walking, and a severe headache with no known cause.
Related: New Research Says This Is the Type of Exercise That Can Help You Recover from a Stroke the Fastest—and It's Probably Not What You Think
For Hudson, there was a first symptom that initially caught his attention. “I was doing my daily workout and my vision got blurry,” he says. “I sat down, drank water, and when it didn’t return to normal, I decided to go home.”
Luckily, Hudson’s wife is a nurse, and when he arrived home, she was getting ready for work. After describing his blurred vision to her, “she did a quick neuro exam, told me I looked okay, and told me to lie down for 20 minutes,” he describes of the symptom that didn’t seem alarming at the time.
Laying down for 20 minutes seemed to do the trick—Hudson’s eyesight cleared up. But as soon as he sat up, his right arm went limp and fell to his side. “I knew this was a terrible sign and I called my wife immediately,” he says, since she had already left for work. “She said she was turning around and coming home.”
Right after they hung up, Hudson’s wife instantaneously, and wisely, called 911 and told them, “My husband is having a stroke.”
“She wanted to be clear with the dispatcher so that the EMTs would come as fast as possible,” he says.
A Shocking Diagnosis
Treated by Dr. Shazam Hussain at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, the stroke diagnosis was confirmed and Hudson says that he was “scared, shocked, and worried” when he first learned that he had had a stroke.
He realizes now that the stroke absolutely could have been life-threatening “if I had ignored the initial warning signs, or my wife hadn’t quickly called 911 to get me to the hospital,” he says.
Hudson knows that he “was lucky,” and is thankful for the quick actions between his wife and himself. He recovered quickly as well.
“Because we acted quickly, after only a couple of days there was almost no visible signs I had had a stroke,” he says. “My right hand felt weak, but the doctors or physical therapists could notice it on routine exams.”
Related: This Common Nighttime Habit Could Increase Your Stroke Risk by More Than 40%, New Study Warns
Although the stroke experience was undoubtedly jarring for Hudson, today, two years later, at 45 years old, he says, “I feel as good as I did before the stroke.”
And while he says that “it could certainly have been a genetic component,” genetic testing proved inconclusive, which was carried out to err on the side of caution.
Today, Hudson takes a baby aspirin every day, goes to follow-up appointments, and continues to work out every day—just at a lower intensity than before the stroke.
“I have always felt that exercise and eating a balanced diet was like putting money into a savings account—you have something for your body to draw on if or when you need it,” he says. “I continue to live that way. I think because I took care of myself, I was able to notice the symptoms and get to the hospital quickly and recover quickly.”
Hudson concludes with these sage words: “I encourage everyone to go to their annual doctor’s appointment and pay attention to their bodies.”
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