Globally, more than 12 million people experience a first stroke every year. [Courtesy]
It can strike a child in the middle of a school day, a young parent at the height of their working life or an older person who has spent decades believing they understand the risks. Across Kenya, doctors are increasingly confronting a disease that is breaking the old stereotype of who gets a stroke.
Globally, more than 12 million people experience a first stroke every year, according to the World Stroke Organisation. More than 60 per cent occur in people below 70, while 16 per cent affect those below 50.
Behind the numbers are lives abruptly interrupted — breadwinners unable to work, children forced to relearn basic movements and families confronting months or years of rehabilitation.
“Stroke is basically limited blood supply in an area of the brain,” explains Dr Kuria Waweru, a vascular and endovascular neurosurgeon and chair of the Kenya Stroke Society.
Whether caused by a blocked blood vessel or bleeding in the brain, the result can be devastating. And because brain cells begin dying when deprived of oxygen, doctors emphasise a simple rule: Time is brain.
Dr Waweru says the damage can happen quickly, making stroke a medical emergency where every minute can affect the outcome.
There are two main types of stroke—an ischaemic stroke, which occurs when a blood vessel supplying the brain becomes blocked, usually by a blood clot or fatty deposits; and haemorrhagic stroke which occurs when a blood vessel ruptures and bleeds into the brain. There is also transient ischaemic attack (TIA), sometimes referred to as a mini-stroke, which occurs when blood supply to part of the brain is temporarily disrupted, producing stroke-like symptoms that later resolve. TIA should not be ignored because it develop into full stroke.