Man 36 Years Old Had a Stroke as a Teen. He describes his fear of having another child.

  • Trevor Turner was just 14 when he had a headache and felt tingling in his left side.
  • A severe brain injury had left him with a serious problem. He was then diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening condition about one year later.
  • Turner, now 36, is raising awareness on the importance of brain injury survivors’ mental health.

Trevor Turner was 14 years old when he had dinner with his family and was struck by a headache. This would forever change his life.

Turner, a Michigan high school freshman, didn’t initially think much about the headache. To dull the pain, he asked his parents. The left side of his body started to feel tingly. “That’s kind of weird,”He said that he thought.

His parents took him to see a doctor. Turner was asked to touch his left index finger to his nose while keeping his eyes closed. He failed. “I was looking at my mom like, ‘Hey mom, look how crazy this is!'”But not with any fear, he stated.

The doctor called an ambulance after Turner’s emotions were expressed. Turner vomit in the vehicle and fell unconscious. He doesn’t remember anything else for the next six months. Turner had suffered a severe brain injury from a ruptured vessel. arteriovenous malformation(AVM), a rare condition that he didn’t know he had. It tangles the blood vessels in the brain.

Only about 10% of strokes — which describe any disruption of blood flow in the brain — occur in people younger than 50, and the risk goes down the younger you are,Dr. Donald M. Lloyd-JonesInsider was previously informed by a president of the American Heart Association.

AVMis rareIt doesn’t always cause a brain hemorhage. However, it often happens to children and young people, according to The Mayo Clinic.

Turner, now 36, is fully functional and has spoken to Insider about his life after the brain injury. He also discussed why mental health treatment was as important as physical rehabilitation. “When you come out of a brain injury,”He said: “you’re a new person.”

Turner suffered a second stroke one year later

Doctors advised his family to call the clergy that night, as they were not sure he would make it. He did and the doctors were eventually able to place shunts into his brain to drain the fluid.

Trevor Turner with Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings while in hospital

Trevor Turner does not recall being visited by Steve Yzerman, the Detroit Red Wings’ owner, while he was at the hospital. However Turner still has Yzerman’s gift: his Stanley Cup Jersey.

Trevor Turner


Turner was in a medically-induced state for four weeks and could not speak for four more months. He was treated with speech, occupational, and physical therapy. Turner began his freshman year in the following school year.

However, he felt his left side tingling more than usual one day while he was in class. A MRI showed that there was severe swelling around the original bleed. The doctor declared it inoperable. Turner’s original surgeon in Ohio, whom the family went to, also said the same thing.

The family drove to Buffalo, New York for experimental laser surgery. It failed. “I was ready to die and death didn’t sound all that bad considering I could barely walk, talk or eat,” Turner He wrote it on his website.

Turner met his parents back in Michigan with a neurosurgeon. Dr. Gregory ThompsonThis is the same doctor who treated Kelly Stafford noncancerous brain tumor. Thompson accepted the case and the surgery was successful.

“I remember getting out of the surgery and Dr. Thompson saying, ‘Go on and live a normal life,'”Turner said.

Brain injury survivors have top concerns about fatigue and mental health.

For the most part, Turner has done just that — he completed high school in college, and went on to hold multiple jobs in journalism and marketing. Turner got interested in music and poetry and moved to Denver, Colorado for a while.

Turner, who works as an account manager, is still suffering from the invisible effects brain damage. He experiences fatigue, double-vision and a loss of sensation on his left. He has realized that he must prioritize his mental health by meditation, exercise, gratitude and eating well.

Turner was plagued with anxious thoughts even before those supports were in place. He avoided shrimp ravioli, which was the meal his family had on the night of the fatal headache. He recalled thinking about it while on his way to physical therapy. “If we don’t pass this car, I’m gonna have another brain injury.”

“Even still to this day,”Turner said, “my left side might get a little tingly, and I always think, ‘Is it happening again?'”

Turner Start a websiteBrain Talk, and a podcast called “The Bleeding Brain”To increase awareness of brain injuries and support other survivors. According to polls Turner has conducted, Turner found that fatigue, anxiety, and depression are the most common symptoms.


depression

These are the most pressing concerns. He is working on a solution.

“Many brain injury survivors call it the silent disease because even though many look normal from the outside, there can be a lot of discomfort with the paralysis, double vision, and aches,”He stated. “So if you know a brain injury survivor, ask them how they are doing and gain an understanding of what they go through.”

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