A BC woman credits this acronym with saving her life after a stroke.

Quick thinking saved the life of Melissa Wing, a 29-year-old graduate student from Victoria, British Columbia. stroke Symptoms for her quick action.

While chatting with friends at a farewell party on the beach in July 2023, Wing turned to face her partner and suddenly felt the right side of her face droop.

She remembers saying, “I don't feel well, I think I'm having a stroke.”

They immediately went to hospital, where Wing's stroke symptoms progressed rapidly: first, he suffered facial drooping, but within 30 minutes, he had lost movement in his right arm and hand, the drooping in his face worsened, and eventually he could no longer speak.

“I went to the emergency room, was seen by a doctor within 20 minutes, had an MRI within the hour and was given the medication I needed within a critical four hours,” Wing told Global News.

In Canada, a stroke occurs every five minutes, and according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, it's a worrying trend that's on the rise not just among seniors, but also among younger people.

In celebration of Stroke Awareness Month in June, The foundation released the statistics on Tuesday.According to the National Center for Cardiology and Neurology, there are more than 108,000 cases of stroke in the country each year. The latest figures also reveal that nearly one million people in Canada now suffer from the aftereffects of a stroke, making it the leading cause of disability among adults.

According to experts, the number of strokes continues to increase every year at a worrying rate.

“The actual total number of strokes is increasing in Canada and most of the Western world,” Dr. Michael Hill, a Calgary-based neurologist, told Global News in an interview.

“Strokes can occur at any age, most commonly in the first year of life during childhood. After that, strokes become increasingly frequent as we get older. This is because common risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes become more prevalent as we get older. But it is true that for people in their 20s, stroke is the most common major neurological disorder.”

The Heart & Stroke Foundation attributes this increase to two main factors: a growing older population (as age is a major risk factor for stroke) and an increase in risk factors among younger people. These risk factors include high blood pressure, diabetes, unhealthy diet and lack of exercise.

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Stroke cases are on the rise, but so is awareness of stroke symptoms, Hill explained, adding that recognizing the signs of a stroke and acting quickly can mean the difference between life and death, or the difference between a faster recovery and permanent disability.

“The encouraging trend here is that more people are recognizing the basic signs and symptoms of stroke and are able to seek help,” Hill said.

“There's been a revolution in the last few decades where strokes can now be treated in their acute phase, so if you're treating someone within the first hour or even a few hours of having a stroke, you need to be seen quickly.”

Luckily, both Melissa and her partner Cole were first aid experts, and upon recognizing the symptoms, she quickly remembered the acronym “FAST,” a tool used to identify the signs of a stroke.

This includes:

• debtAce – Are you drooling?
• arms – Can you raise both?
• vinegarspeech – Is your speech slurred or incoherent?
• TI'm going to call 911 right away.

Wing said when he lost the ability to speak, he felt like he was trapped inside his own head.

“It was really scary, especially when I lost the ability to speak,” she said. “I had all the words in my head, but they wouldn't come out of my mouth. I just couldn't put them into words.”

Tests revealed that Wing's stroke was caused by a previously undetected heart condition, which she said likely led to the discovery of the condition, which might have otherwise gone unnoticed.

“So, weirdly enough, I'm very lucky,” she said.

What did Wing learn from experiencing a stroke at a young age? It can happen to anyone, she says. This highlights how important it is to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

“The acronym FAST, in a weird way, saved my life and has the power to save the lives of others. The only reason I knew I was having a stroke was because I knew what the acronym was. Otherwise, I would have ignored it because I was so young.”

Dr. Hill stressed that time is of the essence in stroke treatment: the sooner patients receive treatment, the better their outcomes.

“If you treat someone within the first hour, they may be able to walk out of the hospital the next day,” he says, “but if you treat them six to eight hours after the stroke, they've almost certainly already had some damage.”

Wing spent four days in hospital recovering, and almost a year later, she said she is optimistic about her future.

“I continue to live my life the same way I did before I had my stroke, which is wonderful, and I'm very grateful and very lucky that the impact was minimal and long-lasting,” she said.

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