I received an e-mail from my eye doctor, Craig Sultan, who asked me to post it and forward it to everyone I know. I have had this subject in my face many times the last few months, and I have learned to listen – so here it is…

I tried to find out if the story is true on Snopes.com, but there is nothing there, but whether it’s true or not, the message is true. I found many other sites validating it.

STROKE: Remember The 1st Four Letters – S.T.R.O.

If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks. Seriously..

Please read:

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall, she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) …..she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Ingrid’s husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital – (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don’t die, they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke… totally . He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Let’s all try to remember the “4” steps, STRO.

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking four simple questions:

• S * Ask the individual to SMILE.
• T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE
  (Coherently – i.e. “It is sunny out today”)
• R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
• O * Stick OUT your Tongue. (Ask the person to ‘stick’ out his/her tongue. If the tongue is ‘crooked’, or if it goes to one side or the other , that is also an indication of a stroke.)

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911 immediately (999 in some foreign countries) and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

An associate, who is a cardiologist says, if everyone who gets this message sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.