As a registered nurse and fitness enthusiast, 40-year-old Morgan Hill resident Michelle Fithian never thought that she was at risk for a stroke and, even so, that she wouldn’t pick up on the symptoms if it ever happened to her.
On the afternoon of March 25 at Ernie Reyes World Class Martial Arts studio in Morgan Hill, shortly after her 7-year-old daughter’s class ended, Fithian experienced the unthinkable.
“I was talking with one of the owners, Richard Loretto, about my daughter and I started having double vision and feeling like I was under water,” explained Fithian, who was sitting in the office discussing her daughter when she just didn’t feel right. “I’m a registered nurse myself, so I was just assessing myself thinking maybe I did not have enough carbs that day or something.”
Loretto, who has been in martial arts for more than 20 years and holds a fourth degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, said he asked Fithian if she was OK and didn’t like her “slurred” response. Loretto’s stepfather had experienced a stroke a few years back so he started giving Fithian some hand strength tests to gauge if she was having similar symptoms.
“She couldn’t make a fist with one of her hands. That was the first thing I checked. Her responses were so delayed,” said the alert Loretto. “It was really scary at first….She started giving me every excuse under the sun so I just told her to sit for a few minutes and I had to start one of my classes.”
Still unconvinced that Fithian was just low on carbs, Loretto couldn’t shake that something was more serious and finally convinced his pupil that he would take her to Saint Louise Regional Hospital. Meanwhile, Loretto’s wife took Fithian’s child home.
“I just wanted to get her there and let them fix whatever was wrong,” said Loretto, who worked with Fithian in a five-day-a-week fitness class as well as her daughter, Amara, in a martial arts class.
When they arrived at the hospital, Fithian tried to step out of the car and fell to the ground.
“My brain thought I could do it, but my body didn’t let me do it,” said Fithian, who had no family history of strokes and has lived an active, healthy lifestyle leading into the incident. “I never thought it would happen to me.”
Fithian was required to stay in the hospital for three days before being discharged to go back home. She’s still a bit tired from the ordeal, but all her symptoms have subsided, Fithian said. And she’s not stopping her exercise routine either. However, she will modify it a bit to exclude the combat portion for now.
“Pretty much, he saved my life,” said Fithian, who was diagnosed with having a mild stroke. “If it wasn’t for Richard, I might not be here or I may be severely disabled.”
Loretto hopes that Fithian’s experience can help bring more awareness to identifying the signs of a stroke so that the victim can get immediate care and limit the effects.
“A stroke can be fixed if you recognize the symptoms. You only have a short amount of time to reverse the effects,” said Loretto, who has run the Ernie Reyes World Class Martial Arts studio at 15650 Vineyard Boulevard for almost three years.
Fithian praised Loretto for always going above and beyond for his students and even nominated his martial arts studio for Chamber of Commerce’s Business of the Year award.
“They really, really help people,” Fithian concluded.
F: Face drooping
A: Arm weakness
S: Speech difficulty
T: Time to call 911
Other symptoms include: Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding speech; Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg. Especially on one side of the body; Sudden trouble seeing in one or Both eyes; Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination; Sudden severe headache with no known cause.
•Information from strokeassociation.org
