I was healthy when I had a stroke at 48 — these were the signs
But everything changed on a frigid afternoon last winter, when the 48-year-old mother of two — seemingly the picture of health — suddenly became one of nearly 795,000 Americans who suffer a stroke each year.
And it was all caught on camera.
'Your life can go two directions at that moment,' her surgeon, Dr. Yafell Serulle, told The Post. 'You could either be paralyzed for life and end up in a nursing home at the age of 48, or you can just go back to normal.'
9 Alexandra Gomez Peña says she was once called a 'boring patient' by her doctor. She was healthy — but then she had a stroke.
From the gym to the ER
Dec. 10, 2024, began like any other for Gomez Peña. She hit the gym with her daughter for a 90-minute workout, then headed home for breakfast and a shower.
'I was taking care of myself, exercising a lot and being a healthy woman,' she said, adding that she doesn't drink alcohol or smoke.
After her workout, a dull headache crept in. Gomez Peña took a shower, grabbed a nap and hoped it would pass before her shift that afternoon at their family-owned store in Ossining, NY.
But later that day, while helping a customer, she suddenly felt strange.
'You know that feeling when you have one or two drinks, and you feel a little bit high? That was the feeling I had,' Gomez Peña recalled.
Then, she tried to speak — and couldn't.
Store security cameras captured the chilling moment: Gomez Peña, suddenly unsteady on her feet, shaking her head and unable to form words.
9 Gomez Peña had been working out at the gym hours before her stroke.
Courtesy of Alexandra Gomez Pena
'I was so scared,' she said. 'I didn't have any pain, but it was strange that I couldn't talk. I now realize it was because half my face drooped.'
Seconds later, the entire left side of her body was paralyzed.
An employee dashed to her side, lowering her to the floor. Another sprinted to call 911.
A race against time
Paramedics rushed Gomez Peña to nearby Phelps Hospital, where she was immediately whisked into a CT scan so that doctors could look inside her brain.
9 Emergency medical services ensure potential stroke patients are transported to hospitals capable of providing appropriate stroke care.
Courtesy of Alexandra Gomez Pena
'She had a dissection of her carotid artery, which is something that, unfortunately, even if you are healthy, could happen to anyone,' said Serulle, a neuroendovascular surgeon at Northwell Health.
A carotid artery dissection occurs when there's a tear in one of the layers of the artery in the neck. It can happen after an injury or spontaneously. In Gomez Peña's case, the cause is still unknown.
'We do know that certain workouts where you strain your neck — like lifting weights or doing yoga, for example — can predispose you to have it,' Serulle said. 'But in the end, we can't tell exactly what happened to her.'
Sometimes these tears heal on their own. But in other cases, they allow blood to seep into the artery wall, forming a clot — which can cut off blood flow to the brain and cause a stroke.
'Every minute that passes by while you're having a stroke, about a million neurons die, and those are neurons you can't recover,' Serulle said.
9 Gomez Peña (right) pictured with her daughter in the hospital.
Alexandra Gomez Peña
'The faster we can treat a stroke, the greater chance the patient has to go back to normal.'
Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the US — and one of the top causes of long-term disability, often robbing survivors of their ability to walk, speak or think clearly.
Research shows that just 10% of survivors make a full recovery.
Prayers and precision
After pinpointing the location of the clot, Serulle told Gomez Peña she would need an emergency mechanical thrombectomy to restore blood flow to her brain.
9 Gomez Peña was happy and healthy before her stroke at age 48.
Courtesy of Alexandra Gomez Pena
Lying on the operating table, she asked the anesthesiologist for a moment before going under — a risky delay, with every passing second threatening her chances of recovery.
'I started praying, and as soon as I was finished, I was ready,' Gomez Peña said.
Once she was asleep, Serulle and his team got to work.
'Everything starts with a very tiny incision near the groin that's about the size of the tip of a pen,' he explained. 'It's something that wouldn't even need to be sutured — we just literally put a Band-Aid on at the end of the procedure.'
Through the incision, Serulle threaded a thin catheter equipped with a suction device up through her arteries and into the brain, guided by X-ray imaging. Once at the site of the blockage, he vacuumed out the clot, clearing the path for blood to flow freely again.
9 Mechanical thrombectomy is a minimally invasive procedure used to remove blood clots from blood vessels.
Courtesy of Alexandra Gomez Pena
Back from the brink
Gomez Peña woke up in the recovery room the next morning to find her husband of 28 years at her bedside. Miraculously, she started speaking as if the stroke had never happened.
Shortly after on a FaceTime call with her mother, Gomez Peña caught a glimpse of herself in her phone, her face symmetrical again.
Doctors checked her limbs, and found that her strength and movement had largely returned.
'About 60% of patients who undergo mechanical thrombectomy will be able to go back to normal after the procedure, although not always the day after — sometimes it takes months,' Serulle said.
9 The procedure restores blood flow to the brain.
Courtesy of Alexandra Gomez Pena
'This is not 100%, but it's still much better than the alternative, which has a very low chance of going back to normal,' he added.
Gomez Peña spent about a week in the hospital, where nurses closely monitored her brain function. During that time, her daughter turned 23.
'This is my best birthday ever,' Gomez Peña recalled her daughter exclaiming, just happy to be by her mother's side.
Seven months after the stroke, Gomez Peña has no lingering effects — but the ordeal taught her a few lessons.
Chief among them: the importance of managing stress and setting boundaries between work and life, a tough balancing act for any small business owner.
9 Gomez Peña had a few symptoms before suffering a stroke, such as a light headache.
Courtesy of Alexandra Gomez Pena
'When you have a business, even if you're not there, you're still working because people call you for one reason or another,' she said. 'Even if someone's in charge, it's like you can never really disconnect.'
Now, every Saturday, she and her husband dedicate mornings to church and afternoons to family — laughing with their kids and playing with their two young grandchildren.
'I just want to be present in every moment, in every place I am, with my mind and my body together,' Gomez Peña said.
9 The experience taught Gomez Peña to prioritize time with her family and stress management.
Courtesy of Alexandra Gomez Pena
Know the signs — and act fast
'Every second that we could use to treat the patient really has a tremendous impact,' Serulle said.
He urged people to learn the FAST acronym so that they can quickly recognize stroke symptoms — and potentially save a life:
F: Face drooping
Face drooping A: Arm weakness
Arm weakness S: Speech difficulty
Speech difficulty T: Time to call 911
If you suspect a stroke, experts advise against driving the person to the hospital and recommend calling an ambulance instead.
'EMTs and paramedics are trained to perform rapid assessments to determine stroke severity and relay critical information to the hospital, enabling us to prepare for the patient's arrival,' said Dr. David Gordon, regional chair of neurosurgery for Northwell facilities in Westchester, and chief of neurosurgery at Phelps Hospital.
'This coordinated approach, from the 911 call to the operating room, gives patients the best possible chance of a full recovery,' he stressed.
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