African American Women and Stroke

MY9TV.COM - They can get hit early in life. And doctors really do not know why. Brenda Flanagan has the emotional story of an unlikely victim And her fight to recover.

" It was the hardest thing ever."

Tears roll down Oriana Cornett's face now, when she talks about the stroke. She remembers falling down in her apartment.

"I didnt really think, Oh, I'm having a stroke, now. I just thought, I can't move my left side."

Oriana lies there and loses track of time because parts of her brain are dying. A big clot's blocking the flow of oxygen rich blood.

"And I had no ability to reason what was really going on."

Eight long hours later family finds her and dials 911.

The cruelest irony, Dr. Oriana Cornett's a brilliant young neurologist just 37 years old! She treats stroke patients. Now, a fellow doctor tells her she's had a stroke...

"In someone like me it means I really could die."

The stroke ravaged Oriana. We'll show you incredible home video of her amazing fight to regain control over her own body! But first, let's talk about how stroke targets African-Americans, women particularly.

"It is not the same disease it is in men or that we learned about in the
classic trad studies were learned in med schoolm"

Dr. Charles Prestigiacomo heads the Neurological Surgery Dept at UMDNJ Medical School he's Oriana's mentor and friend. He notes, studies have shown that stroke and heart disease will kill more than half of African-American women. If you're 20 to 44 years old, you're still 2 and a half times more likely to suffer a stroke. And if you're overweight, diabetic, smoke or have high pressure the odds against you go through the roof.

"It happens to be the women who have diabetes, who have
high blood pressure who seem to be affected earlier on. And because more African American women have those problems, they tend to get it," said Dr. Prestigiacomo.

Oriana's stroke, he can't explain. She's not diabetic, doesn't smoke, was a runner, actually.

Home movies taken after the stroke show, Oriana had to
learn to walk all over again. Her face drooped for months. If she'd gotten to the hospital sooner..

"It could've been a much smaller stroke which means I could've been completely recovered by now.

It's taken Oriana more than a year of intense often painful therapy to walk with a cane. Her left hand's still clenched into a fist making her struggle with routine, daily tasks and even though she's got her family's full love and support sometimes she's just overwhelmed.

"We all have sad days depression can be a huge part of stroke."

She says, a stroke support group like this one at University Hospital is absolutely crucial

"You need somebody else because you need encouragement."

Talking to others who have experienced the same trauma helps them all survive to fight another day.