Overcoming Stroke: Miss Arizona Leean Hendrix

Aired on Lifetime Television
May 11 and June 22, 2008
Show 512

She was a queen—and had the crown to prove it. Leean Hendrix was a former Miss Arizona, 26 years young with a world of possibilities ahead. Then, it happened: "I was folding laundry and I remember just becoming extremely dizzy. My vision became extremely blurry," she recalls. Hendrix looked in the mirror—and knew. When she first arrived at the hospital, doctors didn't believe she was having a stroke because of her age. But in truth, 30 percent of all stroke victims are women under 65. Jim Baranski with the National Stroke Association says women have all the same risk factors men do for stroke—hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and smoking – with an added risk factor from birth control. There are two types of stroke: ischemic, caused by a blood clot in the brain, and hemmoragic, caused when a blood vessel in the brain breaks. Hendrix had none of the risk factors—her stroke was caused by a blood clot that formed in her heart and moved to her brain. Turns out she had a clot due to a hole in her heart she was born with and knew nothing about. There are some amazing new treatments for stroke, including a type of catheter device that literally works like a corkscrew to break up clots. The best treatment for stroke is to know the signs and symptoms. Weakness or numbness on one side of the body, difficulty speaking, problems with vision, a sudden headache, or sudden dizziness. For 5 years, Leann had to take what she calls a hiatus from her life and learn how to be an adult again. She had to start over from scratch—everything from eating to brushing her own hair, her teeth, and taking a bath. Hendrix has climbed back and is now living a life in many ways even more fulfilling than before.