My Child Had A Stroke : Pediatric Safety

Posted by Jim Love on February 1, 2010 · 5 Comments

If you think, as most of us do, that strokes only occur in adults, read on. As reported on the “‘Today Show” and in the New York Times, Jared Dienst was in every way a typical seven year old. One day while playing in the park he began to complain of a headache and his speech became slurred. He could no longer walk in a straight line and his mouth drooped to one side. His mother carried him the three blocks to the emergency room.

Often emergency room doctors don’t think stroke either. Some of the initial questions by the ER staff concerned seizure history or the possibility of ingesting poisons.

While not common, strokes in children, according to some experts is the sixth leading cause of death in infants and children. Strokes in children often have the same signs and symptoms as in adults. Should a child display stroke symptoms health care providers should think stroke until another cause may be found.

To see the entire New York Times article click here.

For more information about strokes please visit the National Stroke Association

Filed under Community
Tagged with child health, ER diagnosis, stroke, stroke symptoms

Jim Love

Jim began his EMS career in 1974. Since that time he has worked providing direct patient care, has been a Field Training Officer and more recently was the National Director of Safety and Risk for AMR. He is currently writing a book on achieving safety success in EMS and maintains an EMS Safety site and blog. (www.emsafety.net). Jim is a member of the PedSafe Expert team

5 Responses to “My Child Had A Stroke”

Dalia says:

February 1, 2010 at 1:16 pm

I did see this on the Today show. Very scary. Who would have thought that a child could have a stroke like that.
Dalia´s last blog ..Public Bathrooms

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Rebecca Wear Robinson says:

February 1, 2010 at 2:23 pm

I had no idea – thank you for sharing such valuable information. Just as heart attacks in women are often misdiagnosed because it’s the wrong demographic (men over 40), it would have never occurred to me to apply the rules for identifying a stroke to a child. Thank you – I’ll pass the information on.
Rebecca Wear Robinson´s last blog ..Tag, you’re it! Making your pool safer…

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Nichol says:

February 1, 2010 at 9:55 pm

How scary…thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Nichol´s last blog ..Allergic To Sitting Still?

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Organic Motherhood with Cool Whip says:

February 2, 2010 at 12:55 am

Great post. It is always crazy to hear things like this that you would never know could be a concern until it happens to you. Thanks for the heads up!!

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Loveleng says:

February 15, 2010 at 5:49 am

Thanks a lot for informing and bringing attention to this matter. I have 3 children and it was really scary if one of them got sick or had a disease…Thinking of that sacred me to death…your blog was really informative for a mother like me that is why i keep on coming by…and i know you deserve this as much as i deserve it…check it out… http://fionnalovelle.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-1st-award-ever.html

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