Mark McEwen’s Change In The Weather

©All articles are copyright of Dr. Susan Mitchell and Practicalories, Inc. and cannot be reprinted or used without permission. To obtain permission, please contact Dr. Mitchell.

Do you have a friend or family member who's had a stroke? If you have, you know that it happens very quickly. About 780,000 Americans suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year. So on average, a stroke occurs every 40 seconds. It's the number three cause of death behind heart disease and cancer. The National Stroke Association is making some big strides to educate the public to recognize stroke symptoms and to act FAST. To identify if someone is having a stroke think of the word FAST. The letter F for FACE. Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop? The letter A for Arm. Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward? The letter S for Speech. Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Does the speech sound slurred or strange? And most importantly the letter T for Time. If you observe any of these signs, call 9-1-1.

Recently Mark McEwen was a guest on my podcast. For over fifteen years, millions of television viewers woke up to his friendly face on CBS This Morning. Mark suffered a stroke and has made it his mission to tell his story in an effort to help others. You can read his story in his book Change in the Weather . You don't want to miss his moving interview. Listen to the podcast at http://www.susanmitchell.org/listenlive-archives.htm