Overview
- Dr Oscar Duke used Lauren Jean’s on-air account to reinforce the FAST checks for facial droop, arm weakness and speech problems, followed by an immediate 999 call.
- Lauren Jean, then 17, woke at 3am on holiday in Spain unable to feel one side of her body, and was scanned, told she needed major brain surgery and airlifted to hospital.
- Her mother recognised stroke signs and the family sought help quickly, with an ambulance arriving and hospital admission reported within about 20 minutes.
- Dr Duke said roughly 240 people a day wake up with stroke effects and estimated that about 10–15% of stroke cases occur in people under 50.
- Lauren reports doctors later linked her stroke to a PFO and contraceptive use, with flying possibly accelerating the event; she has since recovered well and ran the London Marathon for the British Heart Foundation.