Stroke survivor shares the keys to his positive outcome
Occupational therapist and youth pastor Dominic McGee was 37 years old and healthy when he was blindsided by a stroke at his local gym in Chesterfield.
“I was starting my deadlifting workout when I dropped the bar and it felt like I needed to catch my breath, but it was a different kind of feeling,” he said, recalling the 2023 incident. “I went to grab my water jug and my hand wouldn’t catch it. Then my right side completely gave out and I fell.”
Fortunately, an EMT and a nurse both happened to be working out near McGee and came to his aid quickly. Emergency services arrived within minutes to transport him to nearby Johnston-Willis Hospital.
When the paramedics began asking him questions, McGee tried to respond but couldn’t get the words out. He knew immediately what was happening to him because his mom had survived multiple strokes and educated him on the symptoms.
“Mine happened suddenly and because I knew the signs, I was aware of what was happening to my body,” he said. “If I didn’t know I was having a stroke, I would have been flipping out. If I was home, I don’t know what would have happened.”
In the U.S., where someone has a stroke every 40 seconds, it is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of disability. But it is also preventable and treatable.
A stroke occurs when part of the brain is cut off from blood and oxygen due to a blood clot or broken blood vessel. In just minutes, strokes can cause lasting brain damage. Delayed treatment increases the risk of permanent disability and death. Knowledge of stroke risk factors and symptoms is crucial to reducing the likelihood of and improving the outcomes of a stroke.
Dr. Ted Harris, a neurologist at Johnston-Willis Hospital who treated McGee, said some of the common stroke signs to be aware of are as drooping face, loss of balance or coordination, inability to raise one or both arms, and speech issues.
In McGee’s case, Dr. Harris and others at the HCA Healthcare hospital were able to help him regain feeling on his right side quickly through medication.
“I really couldn’t say a lot but I just kept saying thank you, thank you,” he recalled. “The team there was very kind, considerate and caring. I felt a lot of love.”
After a CT scan and echocardiogram, it was revealed that McGee had developed benign tumors in his heart that caused the clot. He was transferred to HCA Virginia’s Chippenham Hospital where he successfully had the tumors removed in open heart surgery just a week after his stroke.
Now, McGee says, he’s back to “a new normal.”
“Compared to a lot of other individuals who have gone through the same thing, I am pretty fortunate,” he said. “My quality of life is pretty much the same.”
His message to others is to be aware of the signs of a stroke and keep in mind that it can “happen to anybody.”