Posted by Jim Love on February 1, 2010 · 8 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
I did see this on the Today show. Very scary. Who would have thought that a child could have a stroke like that.
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My daughter is a stroke survivor. She was diagnosed at 10months old. It is believed that her stroke happened in utero or shortly after birth. I have to say thank you for bring attention to this matter.
I never knew that infants, children or even teens could have a stroke until my daughter was diagnosed.
I and many parents out there are trying our hardest to get the word out there. Stroke in children is so neglected that I honestly believe that if more awareness was raised my daughter would have gotten help a lot earlier. I knew something was wrong but my doctor just blew me off until I was able to show him that my daughter would reach with her left hand to her right side to grab a toy. She would not use her right hand.
I wish I would have known about strokes in children before my daughter was diagnosed so that I could have fought even more to get her help earlier..
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.
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How scary…thanks for bringing this to our attention.
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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!!
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
Same thing just happened to my 7 year old boy. Exactly the same. Scariest thing in the world. I am just glad to still have my boy.
I’m glad your son was ok too! Not alot of people realize this can and does happen to children… We’re grateful to Jim Love for sharing this information with our community.