I had a stroke at 22 — the symptoms I’m glad I didn’t ignore and what may have increased my risk
By Diana Bruk
It all began with a mysterious ringing in her ears.
Aubrey Hasley, 23, was a normal graduate student studying occupational therapy at Elmhurst University in Illinois when she woke up one morning to a strange noise she’d never heard before.
“It sounded like when you have a microphone too close to the speaker — it was just very loud in my head,” she told The Post. “Honestly, it scared me a lot.”
Aubrey Hasley
5
Aubrey Hasley, 23, was a normal graduate student when she woke up one morning to a strange noise she’d never heard before.
Courtesy of Aubrey Hasley
The ringing only lasted a few seconds, but quickly developed into a headache — which was less alarming, since she had a history of migraines.
She decided to cancel her plans and try to nap off the migraine, but the symptoms started getting worse.
“I was super dizzy — my headache was getting worse,” she said. “The room was spinning.”
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At first, she thought it might be vertigo. But, as someone who works part-time at a hospital, she also recognized she was experiencing some classic stroke symptoms.
Still, she didn’t want to rush to the ER.
“I didn’t realize that it could happen to young people and I didn’t wanna be dramatic,” she said.
“I don’t think a lot of people really know that strokes can happen to young people.”
Aubrey Hasley
Her brother handed her a glass of water, which she instantly spilled all over herself because, at that point, she was “pretty uncoordinated.”
Once her mother came home, she drove her to Endeavor Health Northwest Community Hospital, where, thankfully, the staff took her seriously.
Aubrey Hasley
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“It sounded like when you have a microphone too close to the speaker — it was just very loud in my head,” she told The Post. “Honestly, it scared me a lot.”
Courtesy of Aubrey Hasley
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“Luckily, when I got to the hospital, they didn’t just give me meds and send me home for it,” she said.
This is especially true because her symptoms just kept getting more severe — her face became droopy and she began slurring her speech, among other things.
“I had my eyes closed for most of the day because if I opened them I just got so nauseous,” she said, adding that she also had “right sided weakness and double vision.”
She was at the point where she couldn’t even walk when she was diagnosed.
“They had me reading and doing different things with my hands and feet, which I couldn’t do at that point,” she said. “And that’s what they told me that it was a stroke.”
AUBREY HALSEY
5
“I didn’t realize that it could happen to young people and I didn’t wanna be dramatic,” she said.
Courtesy of Aubrey Hasley
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They discussed options and decided the best way to proceed was to have Dr. Mohammad Anadani, Chief of Neuroendovascular Services for the Endeavor Health Neurosciences Institute, perform a thrombectomy to remove the blood clot.
“They gave me a pen to sign [a consent form] to go into surgery and I couldn’t sign because it was my right hand, so my mom did that for me,” she said.
While anyone would agree this is a terrifying ordeal, Hasley said that she felt “pretty positive about the whole thing” and the medical staff “made the situation more comforting.”
She even remembers him playing a song during the procedure — ““Everything’s Gonna Be Alright.”
AUBREY HALSEY
5
“They had me reading and doing different things with my hands and feet, which I couldn’t do at that point,” she said. “And that’s what they told me that it was a stroke.”
Courtesy of Aubrey Hasley
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The surgery went well, although she doesn’t recall all that much after that.
“I just remember being super exhausted and my vision was still a little bit blurry the next day, but recovery overall was pretty quick,” she said. “I was at the hospital for four days.”
When her friends found out she had a stroke, they were surprised — to say the least.
“I don’t think a lot of people really know that strokes can happen to young people,” she said.
Strokes and heart attacks have been on the rise in younger people, even among those who don’t have traditional risk factors.
In Aubrey’s case, Anadani told The Post that it may have happened because she had “a patent foramen ovale (PFO), or a hole in her heart, which likely contributed to her stroke by allowing a clot to bypass the lungs and travel to the brain.”
Aubrey Hasley
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“I think it is so important for people to know the signs [of a stroke],” she said. “If I had brushed it off, things could have been worse than they turned out.”
Courtesy of Aubrey Hasley
He added that she was “taking oral contraceptives, which are known to increase the risk of stroke.”
But a recent study also found that the most common nontraditional risk factor for stroke is having migraines with aura — which Aubrey had a history of.
“The more that I kind of looked into it, it sounded like this kind of migraine is common in people who have PFO,” she said.
“But it doesn’t usually cause that many issues until later in life. So most people go their whole life without knowing that they have it.”
Today, Aubrey is doing well, but she’s hoping that sharing her story will inspire other people to take their symptoms seriously and seek medical help if they need it.
“I think it is so important for people to know the signs [of a stroke],” she said. “If I had brushed it off, things could have been worse than they turned out.”
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