Meet Addison — Stroke at age 6
New Year’s Day 2015 was a day that would change our lives forever. This is typically the time of the year that people are making New Year’s resolutions and looking forward to what the New Year will bring. For Addison and our family, this New Year changed in a blink of an eye. One minute, Addison was a happy, healthy six year old that was running around the house playing with her brother. The next minute, she had collapsed in her bedroom and was in a fight for her life.
In the moment she collapsed, Addison was intermittently conscious. She tried to raise herself off of the floor screaming, only to immediately fall over on to her right side. She was unable to speak or move the entire right side of her body. She had facial dropping, a blank stare, and was not responding to commands. This looked and sounded just like a stroke, but this was a healthy six year old with no identifiable risk factors, so it couldn’t be.
Addison was rushed to the local ER and had a CT scan within fifteen minutes of arrival along with other blood and urine test. The doctors stated that with the CT scan of Addison’s head they were looking for a brain bleed or a brain tumor. Shortly after the scan was completed, the doctors determined that “all the bad stuff had been ruled out.” Her potassium was low, and they believed this may have been a bad migraine.
At this point, Addison’s vitals were stable, but she was only responsive to pain intermittently. Something was clearly wrong. She was transferred to another, bigger hospital that was an hour and a half away. With little urgency to get her transported on a busy New Year’s night, all the staff that Addison should have seen that night had gone home, pediatric neurologist included. Addison would remain in this same non-responsive right sided paralytic state for 18 plus hours. The next day, once the MRI was completed, devastating news filled her hospital room….”Addison has had an ischemic stroke.”
Questions started flooding my mind: will she ever walk again, talk again, and be able to go to the bathroom on her own again? The neurologists told us they were not certain as to the extent of the damage, and only time would tell. They believed Addison would regain some of her functions, but how much and how fast would not be known. They did tell us, however, that children typically make better recovery than adults. The statement that has forever stuck with me was the moment she said, “I would be surprised if she stays just like this, but I would be even more surprised if she is ever 100% again.”
Fast forward a little over a year later, after many hours of physical, occupational, and speech therapy, and Addison has overcome many effects of this devastating illness. She is back to being the active, happy girl she was before her stroke. She regained most of her speech, and though she struggles from time to time coming up with the words she wants to say, she does. She has an AFO for her right ankle and foot, but she walks independently and is a very active soccer player. She has been left with some upper right sided weakness, and she struggles with fine motor skills in her hand. However, she continues to push herself to make improvements and I truly believe that nothing will hold her back. She is a very strong willed, determined seven year old that will not let this illness define her. After all, she is a pediatric stroke survivor!
