You can be forgiven if you think strokes are only a problem for the elderly — but you’re wrong. While it’s true that strokes are more common in older people, this serious neurological injury can occur in younger people as well, for a variety of reasons.
Every year in Canada 46,500 people are hospitalized for stroke, and 13,000 die as a result, according to the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation. That makes it the third most common cause of death in the country.
And because a stroke can cause damage to the brain so quickly, it’s important for everyone to be familiar with its signs — you could save a life, maybe even your own. You could also help a sufferer avoid some of the more serious effects of a stroke, which include loss of compromised ability to speak and damage to the ability to move limbs.
So read through the 14 stroke facts below: you’ll find out what a stroke is, what it looks like, how to react, and what you can prevent by getting help quickly.
