During a Saturday morning run around her Portland, Oregon, neighborhood, Katie McCarron’s left leg felt numb. The next day, while playing soccer with her intermural women’s team, she felt like she was moving in slow motion even though she was giving her usual effort.
“Katie! Why are you letting everyone pass you?” a teammate good-naturedly called out.
That night, on the way home from dinner out with her husband, David, and kids Maggie, 11 at the time, and Matt, who was 14, Katie slurred her words like she’d had too much to drink. She hadn’t.
The next morning, Katie – who was 46 and otherwise healthy – felt numb on her entire left side. She went for an MRI, which was inconclusive. When she woke up the following day, she couldn’t move her left side at all. She knew it was time to go to the hospital.
Tests in the emergency room led doctors to conclude she’d had a lacunar stroke. It’s a stroke that happens when an artery that brings blood to a deep part of the brain gets blocked. In Katie’s case, it happened in the part of the brain that controls movement.
Katie’s potassium was low, too. She got potassium through an IV drip and perked up.
She started medications to thin her blood and stabilize her blood pressure. After five days – and a few visits from her soccer teammates – she left the hospital with a walker and a goal: She wanted to get back on the soccer field.
At physical therapy, staffers started with a goal of Katie regaining her balance so she could walk on her own again. She kept her target in mind by bringing a soccer ball to therapy; she practiced kicking it down the hall. At home, Matt kicked the ball around with her.
A month into therapy, Katie stared at her left hand.
“You need to open,” she said.
It was the 33rd anniversary of her father’s death. She pictured him encouraging her. She imagined him saying, “You need to open your hand and get on with life.”
By the end of the session, her hand had opened.
Maggie helped Katie shop for stretchy clothes that were easier to put on. She helped her mom with necklace clasps, too. Katie also could no longer wear high heels. “The little things add up and bother you,” she said. “It sounds like nothing, but it’s a loss.”
Katie’s stepson Tim helped by driving Matt and Maggie to activities. Stepson Jessie, who was training to be a doctor, supported Katie with regular phone calls of encouragement. “I was lucky because I had a very good support system,” she said.
Slowly, Katie made progress, from walking with a walker, then a cane, to walking on her own. But she still couldn’t use her left hand the way she used to.
She started going on walks with her dog, Rosie. During their first outing, the 45-pound standard poodle was so excited she accidentally pulled Katie to the ground. Katie got back up and kept walking. Eventually, the two were jogging together.
Katie also enrolled in a high-intensity task therapy program. She put pegs in boards and carried cups of water across the room.
Her hard work paid off. About a year after her stroke, she returned to the soccer field.
Katie was in such good shape that two years after returning to soccer and three years after her stroke, she registered for the 2009 New York City Marathon to raise money for the then-National Stroke Association.
Wearing a T-shirt that read, “I am not a plodder! I am a stroke survivor!” she ran across the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, finishing to cheers in Central Park.
“It was a slow, slow jog,” Katie said. “But it was very encouraging to have that goal and to actually achieve it.”
A week later, she signed up for the 2010 race. Then she ran it again in 2011.
A few years later, Rosie got sick. The veterinarian said Rosie didn’t have long to live. Katie had a hunch that Rosie might benefit from a healthier diet. So Katie began cooking fresh meals for Rosie. She ended up living nearly three more years.
That led to Katie starting a business that sells nutritious meals for pets.
“It never ceases to amaze me how she held everything together,” David said. “To this day, she’s never complained, and she’s doing remarkably well.”
Still, life presents challenges. Recently, Katie tripped over her left foot, fell and hurt her hand. She also sometimes wonders if she’ll have another stroke.
She tries to focus on what she can control – regular checkups, eating healthy and exercising. She also has a new standard poodle named Winnie. The two enjoy their daily walks together.
“You’re always nervous once you’ve had a stroke, if it’s going to happen again,” Katie said. “It’s a feeling that you never really shake off. I try to tell myself, ‘You’ve been fine, and you should be fine.'”
Written by Deborah Lynn Blumberg.
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