Honour Your Heroes - Patrick O'Reilly
Patrick O'Reilly from Killiney suffered a stroke at home in August 2015. He remembers 'hitting the floor like a sack of potatoes' and finding that he had no power in his legs and slurred speech. His wife called an ambulance and within 50 mins Patrick was in St Vincent's Hospital undergoing assessment.
80% of all strokes are ischemic strokes i.e caused by a blood clot which cuts off blood supply to the brain. Patrick's assessment confirmed that this was the kind of stroke he had suffered and that he was a suitable candidate for the Mechanical Thrombectomy Service headed up by Consultant Neuroradiologist, Dr John Thornton and available only at Beaumont Hospital. The procedure involved puncturing the artery in his groin and passing a tube through the blood vessels up to the neck and head. A stent retriever was then passed through the tube to pull out the blood clot and restore blood flow to the brain.
Speaking at the reception in which he thanked Dr Thornton and his team, he praised the procedure saying, “Within fifteen minutes of it being done I was able to walk and talk perfectly again and had no other symptoms of stroke”.
Patrick remembers being transferred back to St Vincent's Hospital afterwards and given a bed there on the stroke unit where he was surrounded by patients who had not been so fortunate and who clearly had the symptoms of stroke. He counts himself a lucky man.
Before this procedure was developed, patients were given clot-busting drugs to dissolve clots but it became evident that these drugs didn’t work so well when there were large blockages in the brain and it’s these that are responsible for the most devastating strokes. If a patient does experience the symptoms of a stroke, it is vital that they receive appropriate and early clinical assessment and scanning in their local hospital and are then referred to Beaumont Hospital for a thrombectomy.
However, the treatment is time critical and the best results are seen when patients are treated within a recommended six hours following their initial stroke.
