Eye on Health: Notre Dame professor credits his son’s fast actions, Beacon Stroke Team, for saving his life
Between the cheering and the fireworks, Luis Fraga, Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Latino Studies at Notre Dame, never thought it would be a baseball game that would save his life.
It started last November on a normal day for Fraga.
“It was a weekday. I left work, and I went home, had dinner. When I went to bed that night, I had a very severe headache behind my right eye.” He wrote off as a sign of sinus issues, not anything unusual, until he woke up the next morning. That’s when he noticed he something was wrong.
Fraga had some numbness on the fingertips of his left hand, his face and jaw. Then he noticed he was having trouble seeing out of his left eye. His vision was all cloudy.
He immediately told his son, Tomás. And as he was describing how he felt, Tomás remembered an acronym on the jumbotron at a South Bend Cubs game: F-A-S-T. It is used to identify these symptoms of a stroke: Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulties and Time to call 9-1-1.
And that’s what they did.
They called for help.
What happened next? Find out in our latest WSBT Eye on Health story below. This is National Stroke Awareness Month, so we want to make sure you know the symptoms and what to do if someone you know is experiencing them. It just may save their life.
Learn more about Beacon’s heart, vascular and stroke services. Whether you are looking to understand your health risks, are living with an ongoing heart or blood vessel problem or have experienced a life-changing emergency, your Beacon care team is here to help with the information, resources and care you need.
