A woman in Toronto may very well be alive today because she pulled her car over to take a selfie.
Stacy Yepes, who lives in the Toronto area, had been experiencing some odd tingling and numbness sensations for three days. The tingling would come, then go away again. She had been to the hospital to have the situation looked at. Doctors performed tests, decided that the whole thing was simply stress-related, and sent Yepes on her way with instructions to control her breathing. She even had the same sensation in the hospital parking lot as she was leaving.
But the next day, when the tingling started again, Yepes pulled her car over and grabbed her cell phone.
“The sensation is happening again,” Stacey Yepes says on the selfie video. “It’s all tingling on left side.”
Doctors say that Yepes action may have saved her life.
“I think it was just to show somebody, because I knew it was not stress-related,” Yepes said. “And I thought if I could show somebody what was happening, they would have a better understanding.”
Doctors now say that Yepes was having “mini-strokes” caused by plaque buildup in her arteries that restricted blood flow. She has been put on medications to help the situation, including blood thinners, and has not had any mini-strokes since.
The American Stroke Association uses the acronym F.A.S.T. to help people understand the signs of a stroke.
F- Face dropping
A- Arm weakness
S- Speech difficulty
T – Time to call 911
In the video, Yepes face clearly droops on one side when she tries to smile. She explains that it is “all tingly on the left side”. Her speech is slurred. She explains that her “hand is hard lift up”. These symptoms all fit the signs of a stroke.
Doctors are now saying that the video is a textbook example of what to look for in a stroke. They are recommending the video to students and patients so they can have a clear picture of the symptoms, perhaps saving another life in the days to come.
Then again, there’s this …
I am so horrendously un photogenic i literally look like I'm having a stroke in every selfie I take
— Beth (@bvlvw) March 22, 2014
Image via YouTube