- Stephen Vidman was in a research lab when he started to experience stroke symptoms.
- His colleagues put him in an office chair and wheeled him to the emergency room.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Stephen Vidman. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
When I was younger, I was struck by a tow truck and tossed more than 200 feet into the air. I shouldn't have lived, but I did. After that accident, I was always interested in the idea that someone could be trapped in their body. I wanted to help people who had spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and stroke — terrible wounds that we don't have a cure for yet. I went to physical therapy school, but while there, I realized I was more interested in the science of these conditions.
I enrolled in grad school to study neuroscience with a focus on regeneration — building new neurons and vascular connections after a major injury. I was walking into my lab on The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center campus this spring when I tried to say goodbye to my mom, who was on the phone. Except, I couldn't find the words. I mumbled something and hung up.
I was lightheaded as I tried to get to work, and when I went to stand up, I fell over. My right side was paralyzed, and I couldn't speak. But my brain instantly knew I was having a stroke. I had become those patients I was fascinated with: I was trapped in my own body.
My colleagues recognized what was happening and wheeled me to the ER
My friends have told me that I'm the luckiest unlucky person in the world. If you're going to have a stroke at 28, it's a good idea to be surrounded by neuroscientists. My colleagues immediately realized what was happening, and one of them, Dr. Em Harrington, confirmed it.
Dr. Harrington knew I didn't have time to wait for an ambulance. I knew that, too: during a stroke, each minute without blood flow results in the loss of millions of neurons. Those don't come back.
Dr. Harrington's fiancé works in the emergency room, and they knew the shortest way there. As the doctor texted their fiancé, my colleagues loaded me into office chairs and wheeled me to the back entrance of the ER, where the ambulances pull in.
I remember everything from the ER, but I couldn't talk or move
I have a vivid memory of everything in the hospital. During a CT scan, I told myself not to fall asleep because I wasn't sure I would ever wake up if I did. My right side was completely limp. While I waited for doctors, I poked my arm, and it felt like a corpse.
Because of my work, I know that when a patient becomes paralyzed, the function doesn't typically return. My mind was racing, wondering how I would continue with my research and the rest of my life while in a wheelchair. My body was in that hospital room, but my brain was years down the road.
Then, doctors administered an injection, and suddenly I had some movement in my arm and leg. I knew it was a tissue plasminogen activator, a medication that dissolves blood clots to restore blood flow after a stroke. I realized I might be OK. Every bit of blood that made it past the clot in my brain was saving my neurons.
My surgeon showed me the clot he removed from my brain
Still, I needed surgery to remove the clot entirely. As I came out of the operating room, I could move my arm and leg. For the first time since that phone call with my mom, I could speak. I stuttered over my words because I was so happy to be alive. I also had a lot of scientific questions about what had just happened to me.
Dr. Patrick Youssef, my neurosurgeon, showed me the actual clot that he'd removed from my brain. It was huge: about as long as a pinky tip. As a patient, I thought, "That's terrifying." But as a researcher, it was really cool to see.
I had my stroke on Tuesday, and I was discharged on Friday. That was about six weeks ago. I have a few residual symptoms, like tripping over my words occasionally, but overall I'm doing really well. I'm back in the lab and about to go on a Caribbean vacation with my girlfriend.
This experience has just renewed my dedication to science. My colleagues saved my life that day. But I also know that their research is saving lives every day. We're so close to a lot of breakthroughs in medicine, especially in the brain. I'm so excited to work in biomedical research during such an important time, and forever grateful that I still have their brain neurons I need to do that work.