ACADIA PARISH — Theresa Schmid has survived four strokes — and her journey is a reminder of how quickly life can change.
1.8 million neurons die every minute a stroke is happening. Schmid's first stroke went undetected. By the second, third, and fourth, she and her family recognized that something was wrong.
"Waking up with left side deficits. My vision was off. I had facial droop, um, my left side was numb or like paralyzed, um, my speech was slurred," Schmid said.
There are two types of strokes: hemorrhagic, caused by a bleed, which is rare; and ischemic, caused by a blood clot. Schmid's strokes were ischemic.
Dr. Shail Thanki, stroke director and interventional neurologist at Lafayette General Hospital, treated Schmid and explained what made her case unusual.
"Her case was unique because she came in with a blood clot in the blood vessel in the brain which was causing dysfunction of one whole side of the brain, and this was likely coming from a bacteria that was growing in her heart," Thanki said.
Thanki says knowing the warning signs of a stroke is critical, because reaction time is everything. He recommends remembering the acronym BE-FAST.
"B stands for balance. I stands for eye problems or loss of vision. In one eye or both eyes, F stands for facial droop. A stands for arm weakness. S stands for speech problem where someone is slurring or is having difficulty getting words out. And T is what we call time to call 911 because you don't want to wait for the symptoms to get better on their own," Thanki said.
Despite the challenges she continues to face, Schmid says her experience has reshaped how she sees life.
"In a lot of ways, it's taught me how fragile life is and then how like your health is like a luxury," Schmid said.
The road to recovery has not been without difficult days.
"It's a lot of bad days, but a lot of good days, so I have to like hold on to the good days to push through," Schmid said.
Schmid says through it all, she holds on to gratitude.
"It's hard, but it's like grateful because that means I'm alive, so I'm grateful," Schmid said.
