"After Mike Madison removed the clot with the device, I could lift my left arm
again. It was that quick!" Joan Johnson
Escaping disability, possibly even death, Joan Johnson, 41, was at work at BlueCross BlueShield © when her boss became alarmed when Joan's speech started to slur.
Johnson explains, "My boss said to me, 'the left side of your face just dropped!' Recognizing that this was a clear sign of stroke, she stood up right away and hollered across the office to call an ambulance."
Johnson was rushed to the National Brain Aneurysm Center at St. Joseph's Hospital where Mike Madison, MD, interventional neuroradiologist, evaluated and ultimately treated her.
The majority of blood vessels in the right side of Johnson's brain were completely blocked. "Roughly a third of her brain was dying from a lack of oxygen," says Dr. Madison.
After attempting traditional surgery by administering 'clot busting' drugs, it proved to be unsuccessful because the clot was not actually blood. What was blocking a majority of Johnson’s blood vessels was tissue that had broken off of the heart valve and made its way up into her brain.
"I could have been paralyzed on one side of my body and have brain damage," says Johnson.
Fortunately, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new device known as the Merci Retriever (clot grabber) exactly 10 days before Johnson was admitted to St. Joseph's with a stroke.
Dr. Madison threaded the tiny corkscrew-like device to an artery in Joan's groin up into her brain. He then captured and removed the tissue that was causing the obstruction, which successfully restored blood flow to the one-third of her brain.
"It felt like Pop Rocks candy - that's the noise I heard when the blood flow finally restored," says Johnson.
She continues, "After Mike Madison removed the clot with the device, I could lift my left arm again. It was that quick!"
Johnson experiences some weakness in her left arm from time-to-time, but she is grateful for the life that she has returned to. "I'm just so happy that it worked." As for Johnson's boss, "I thank her all of the time."
