Leslie Jordan didn’t realise her kid was hers when she held him for the first time.
“I was unaware that I had given birth. I thought to myself, “Is this my baby?” Jordan remembered, saying there were tears in the entire room.
Jordan reported experiencing a severe headache two days following the delivery of her baby.
The pain, according to her, “felt like I was literally burning from the inside out, like someone had set my body on fire.”
During her pregnancy, Jordan, a Black woman, was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a blood pressure disorder that can lead to hypertension and other difficulties.
Jordan claimed that she used several painkillers for days after giving birth, but they were unable to ease the unbearable agony. She later suffered a stroke.
“I was completely immobile. I had trouble seeing, walking, and speaking. I was immobile,” Jordan said.”I never thought I would have to battle for my life to live in order to be able to walk, talk, and be here today as a mother to my kid.got the chance to experience postpartum depression.”
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that strokes are the nation’s biggest cause of mortality and a key factor in disability. According to a recent study that was published on Wednesday in the journal “Neurology,” Black Americans are more likely than White Americans to have strokes, and they also do so at younger ages.
Researchers examined changes in stroke using data spanning over 20 years from Ohio and Kentucky hospitals.
The total stroke rate fell from 230 incidents per 100,000 persons in 1993 to 188 incidences in 2015. The rate per 100,000 for Black individuals dropped from 349 to 311, and the rate per 100,000 for White individuals dropped from 215 to 170.
Throughout the research, Black individuals had a stroke rate that was between 50% and 80% greater than that of White adults, with younger to middle-aged Black adults seeing the greatest gap, according to the findings.
Dr. Tracy Madsen, an associate professor of epidemiology and emergency medicine at Brown University and the study’s author, saw some positive aspects in the study’s conclusions.
“We did see a decline in Black adult stroke incidence across the 22 years.
Dr. Madsen, who practices emergency care at Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital, added, “We had not observed it in previous research periods. “It’s just that the difference still exists.”
The study also showed that strokes are occurring in younger populations—both White and Black people—with Black individuals experiencing strokes almost ten years earlier than White people.
Black woman Dina Piersawl claimed to have suffered an ischemic stroke at the age of 41. According to the Mayo Clinic, when blood flow to the brain is impeded or restricted, this kind of medical emergency may occur.
Piersawl said that she had hurried to the ER in December 2004 due to headaches and chest problems. Although she reported having high blood pressure, the doctor remarked, “It was probably just holiday stress.” return home and see my doctor again in a few days.
Scientist Piersawl, a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, told CNN that after coming home, she suffered a stroke that left her left side of the body significantly compromised. She said that her recuperation took months.
Piersawl has been working to increase awareness of the danger of stroke, particularly for Black women, for almost 20 years. She claimed that throughout her years of campaigning, she had trained at the Mayo Clinic, spoken on Capitol Hill, and attended White House meetings.
You will be taken for granted, therefore you must stand up for yourself. There will be prejudice against you. You’ll need to put in more effort than the Caucasian man,” she remarked. But our strength is innate. Thus, via education, we may reverse this situation.
Jordan is back to normal after her stroke, and her kid is five years old. She added that by sharing her experience, she hopes to raise awareness of the warning symptoms of stroke, which include speech difficulties, arm paralysis, and face drooping. She also advocates for the American Heart Association.
It is also her belief that routine testing of blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels is important, particularly for African Americans who are at risk of stroke.
“I want to make sure that no other Black woman experiences what I did,” the woman stated, explaining why she is such a champion on this issue. “I want my side of it to end.”
