POMPANO BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A stroke survivor is crediting her co-worker and the staff at Briward Health North for saving her life after she suffered a stroke.
Jillian Wirzman, who is sharing her story as part of Stroke Awareness Month, said a morning meeting with her staff turned into one of the most frightening experiences of her life.
“Well, I was at work, and I was having a staff meeting, and I experienced some severe dizziness,” she said.
The 51-year-old said it wasn’t the first time she had felt something like this.
“Probably about four years ago, I had had a similar episode, a couple of episodes, actually, that they diagnosed as TIAs, or transient ischemic attacks, and the dizziness that occurred at that time was exactly the same,” she said.
Only this time, it was worse, according to doctors at Broward Health North
“Mrs. Jillian is a very vibrant lady, and she works very hard, and she’s not a complainer, so as soon as she complained of dizziness immediately, I knew there was something wrong,” said Dr. Kiprianos S. Armenakis, an internal medicine specialist at Broward Health North.
“It was very abnormal dizziness. It wasn’t lightheadedness; it more like somebody was pulling you over by your hair,” said Wirzman.
Fortunately, one of her co-workers spotted the signs.
“I sat down, I had some team members with me, and one of them had worked on a neurological unit, and she said, ‘I think you may be having a stroke,'” said Wirzman, “and I said, ‘I think I need to go to the hospital. I think I’m having a TIA.”
Wirzman rushed over to Broward Health North in Pompano Beach.
“The dizziness was the first symptom for me. Then I had something that they call aphasia, where you struggle with communication and finding the words,” she said.
Once she got to the hospital, Wirzman said, the symptoms only got worse.
“It was like a traffic jam in my brain, so the doctors and the nurses were speaking to me, and in the beginning, I was able to speak back fluently,” she said, “but as the minutes progressed, it was pretty much impossible.”
“Her symptoms were high alert for a stroke. Therefore, since it’s a clinical diagnosis, we diagnosed her as an acute stroke,” said Armenakis, “and therefore, the TPA, which is a medication that breaks the clots, was immediately administered, within the three-hour window.”
“Things started to come back. The first thing that came back was my facial affect,” said Wirzman. “It was normalizing, so I was able to smile. I was able to look at the nurse, and then I was able to speak.”
“As a result, Miss Jillian today does not have any neurological deficit and was able to go back to work the next week,” said Armenakis.
Looking back at her ordeal, Wirzman said she still can’t believe she had a stroke, and she feels lucky she acted quickly.
“I don’t think I would have been here standing talking to you today. I think I would have been in a rehab facility somewhere trying to relearn how to speak again and walk again,” she said.
Slurred speech, muscle weakness and face drooping are some of the signs that someone is having a stroke, but experts said only three out of five people can recognize them.
Wirzman said she’s still dealing with some cardiovascular issues, and she gets tired a lot easier, but she hopes her story makes people aware of the signs of a stroke and how important it is to catch it early.
More than anything, she said, she wants to everyone to know how grateful she is to all the staff members who helped treat her at Broward Health North.
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