Skip to main content

Stroke recovery: One woman's story

By Amanda Gardner, Special to CNN
updated 6:53 AM EDT, Thu May 30, 2013
  • Este Osofsky-McGonigle had a stroke in 2009 at age 47
  • Timing is the main factor in determining whether someone survives a stroke
  • Her doctor calls her recovery remarkable; she says it was determination
  • May is National Stroke Awareness Month


"It was something so strong I couldn't talk for a couple of minutes," recalls the New York school psychologist. But it passed, and she regained her speech.


She went into her office and tried to write a letter, "Dear So-and-So." But when she picked up the pen and tried to write the letter "D," the pen just slid across the paper.


Osofsky-McGonigle tried again, but the same thing happened. "The 'D' went crazy," she said.

Fortunately, Osofsky-McGonigle could still run -- and she did, running the whole length of the school building, seeking a friend who sent her to the school nurse.

The nurse checked for a pulse in Osofsky-McGonigle's right arm, but found none. By the time she reached the hospital 15 minutes later, she could not lift her right arm or leg, speak or understand words.

Frankie Muniz talks 'mini-stroke'
Senator returns to work after stroke


What happens during a stroke





No one knows why Osofsky-McGonigle's artery tore, especially at such a young age. She had not suffered a recent injury, nor did she have any traditional risk factors for vascular disease such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure.

She may have simply been unlucky -- but after that, she was as lucky as any stroke survivor could be.

Timing is the main factor determining whether a person lives or dies -- or lives with a severe disability -- after a stroke. May is National Stroke Awareness Month.

Thanks to the alert school nurse, Osofsky-McGonigle made it to the emergency room about an hour and 20 minutes after her first symptoms. That left doctors plenty of time to administer the only approved treatment for ischemic stroke -- a clot-busting drug known as tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA.



Stroke victims don't call 911, delay crucial treatment

"That dissolved the clot and restored blood flow," Antoniello said.


The next day, she still couldn't speak or understand anything. On the second day, when Antoniello asked her to name some simple objects in her hospital room -- a pen, glasses, a watch -- she could not utter the words.

"She would try, but a jumbled mess would come out," he said.



By the third day, though, Osofsky-McGonigle, who was also starting to move her right arm and leg, could name one or two simple items -- and her recovery took off from there.


"That was a big promotion for me," she said.


"I said, 'Zachary, get the radio off,' but it was the TV I was talking about, so he said, 'It's the TV, not the radio.' I said, 'OK, get the TV off.'


By any standard, she experienced an astounding recovery.

"It is absolutely remarkable that someone like her had such a severe impairment and then went back to work as a psychologist two months later," Antoniello said. "There are not many people that make recoveries like her."

Once blood flow was restored, the damaged parts of Osofsky-McGonigle's brain started to "come back on board," he said. Later on, different parts of her brain may have rewired for any areas that were permanently damaged. Today, she shows no evidence of a speech impairment.

She attributes much of her recovery to determination.

"I couldn't afford to deteriorate," she said. "I had a lot of things in my life lined up and I couldn't afford to be in any way less than what I was."

Robotic system may help stroke patients