At the age of 8, Kendall "Roo" Gillis is a stroke survivor. Last July, the first-grader who earned her nickname Roo from the character of the same name in Winnie the Pooh, was playing on the beach when she told her mother, Greta, "my head hurts."
Her mother noticed Kendall was drooling, having trouble walking and was becoming lethargic.
After a call to her pediatrician who recognized the signs of pediatric stroke, Gillis was flown to Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital, a pediatric specialty hospital, in Hollywood where she fell into a coma, underwent brain surgery and spent the next two months recuperating.
Kendall, who just completed her first communion, was one of about 6 in 100,000 children to suffer a pediatric stroke.
Strokes are the sixth leading cause of death in children and can also occur neo-natally.
Greta Gillis, who runs a telecommunications company with her husband Bill, said, "We did not think Kendall would survive. We did not know what the outcome would be. We were so lucky to have the best care and dedicated physicians at Joe DiMaggio and it was in her favor that she's so young and her brain is so plastic."
As it turned out, Kendall had a hemorrhagic stroke and AVM, or arteriovenous malformation, an abnormal entanglement of veins and arteries, which ruptured and caused the bleeding in her brain that caused the stroke.
The pressure build up was so great in the brain that Kendall blew a pupil, and thanks to a diligent nurse who noticed she had no reaction to light, doctors were able to go in and remove the AVM.
"We're passionate about spreading information on this topic. We want people to know it's critical to get help within the first three hours. The outcome depends on time," Greta Gillis said. "The sooner you seek help, the better the outcome will be. We want to educate people on the signs of stroke."
Alan Novick, medical director at the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood, coordinated Kendall's care.
Link:
8-year-old stroke survivor raises awareness at museum event