Tuesday December 5, 2000

Surviving Strokes

Rehab for stroke patients has come a long way in just a few years and at least one of the new treatments comes from a pretty unexpected place. Our Dr. Sean says actress Della Reese is one true survivor in today's RXtra.

Della Reese may be "Touched By An Angel," but in 1979, she nearly joined the angels herself. Della was appearing on "The Johnny Carson Show." She explains, "And while I was singing, I had this jerky sporadic motion and I fell to the floor."

It was a near-stroke. She says, "A blood vessel ruptured in my brain."

The actress went through twenty hours of surgery and, luckily, she came out of it with no problems. Today, Della's a spokesperson for the National Stroke Association.

But Stephen Gaul may not have been as lucky, without the help of a Malaysian pit viper he nicknamed "Malcolm, the Malaysian pit viper." Five years ago, Stephen had a full-blown stroke. He says, "I couldn't move the arm at all… You want to talk, but nothing comes out."

Stephen was rushed to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania. There, Dr. Peter Barbour gave him an experimental drug called "ancrod," it's a drug made from snake venom! Dr Barbour says, "It almost sounds like a miracle drug."

Tests show that the snake venom drug seems safer to use than the stroke drug usually given now. And doctors say, ancrod works.

Stephen says, "My brain was about 75% fried up there, and without the ancrod, I don't think that it would ever come back again. I said, 'God bless that little Malaysian pit viper.'"

And another medical advance? Lou Dibello recovered from his devastating stroke with one arm tied behind his back! He says, "I was completely paralyzed. They had to dress me, they had to undress me."

Six months later, Lou came to the Kessler Institute in West Orange, New Jersey, where Dr. Sue Anne Sisto put him on "constraint therapy." At home doing chores, Lou tied up his good arm, to force him to use the bad one and make it stronger.

Dr. Sisto says, "It's made a big difference."

Today, Lou gets along fine. And he can dress himself.

With these new advances in medicine, it's as if stroke survivors Lou and Stephen have been touched by an angel.

And here's some free advice on stroke symptoms. If you feel weakness, dizziness and confusion, or if you have trouble speaking... You should get to a hospital right away.