In 2019, after spending an evening out with friends, Natalie came home to relax and watch movies in bed. While stretching, she tilted her neck and heard a sharp cracking sound — something she’d done plenty of times before without issue.
At first, she laughed it off when her friend looked alarmed and asked if the sound really came from her neck. She had no idea that what just happened would change her life forever.
About fifteen minutes later, she tried to get up to use the bathroom, but her leg suddenly wouldn’t move.
Confused and scared, she fell to the floor, realizing something was seriously wrong.
That’s when the frightening chain of events began to unfold — one that would lead to a life-threatening stroke.
The cause was so unusual that it left even doctors stunned.
She later warned others: “People need to know that even if you’re young, something this simple can cause a stroke.”
Despite realizing something was wrong, Natalie hesitated to call emergency services because she was worried the paramedics who arrived might be her coworkers and see her after a night of drinking.
Natalie added: “I think they did look at me at first like they thought I was just a classic drunk 23-year-old, but I told them I was a paramedic and I knew something was wrong.”
When she finally made it to the hospital, doctors discovered the full extent of the damage — her vertebral artery had burst, and a clot was lodged in her brain.
The diagnosis confirmed her worst fears: she had suffered a stroke at just 23 years old.
However, they couldn’t remove the entire clot from her brain, leaving lasting effects.
Afterward, Natalie shared: “I expected to wake up from this miracle surgery and everything would be fixed, but my mobility was worse, and they couldn’t clear the clot.”
She recalled: “At the start, I couldn’t move my thumb and forefinger. I could kind of move my wrist up and down. I couldn’t lift my arm. I could bend my left leg, but I couldn’t wiggle my toes.”
Though she eventually regained movement in her arm and leg, walking remains difficult, and she says she still can’t stay on her feet for more than five minutes at a time.
She explained: “Mine was one in a million, but a ruptured vertebral artery is actually quite a common cause of strokes in young people… they will be in the gym or doing something quite physical, and it happens. Strokes are also quite common in kids.”
