North Texas teen survives stroke days before prom thanks to rapid medical care, inspiring future nurse
For many high school seniors, prom is something they look forward to all year. One Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District teen said she had her dress picked out and all the plans in place, but almost didn't make it because of a major medical scare.
Just weeks away from prom and graduation, 18-year-old Katie Rangel started feeling off.
"It was just my right leg weakness," she said. "It started getting numb and I just couldn't balance myself."
She brushed it off as just being tired, but her boyfriend felt something was wrong.
"He was just saying, 'Should I call 911?'" she said. "I just remember going into the ambulance and then I think I just kind of blacked out."
In the ambulance, Katie Rangel had a seizure. Then, at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Grapevine, doctors determined she was having a stroke. Her parents met her at the hospital.
"It was really, really, scary," Gilbert Rangel said. "Emotional. I didn't know what was going on at the time, but what was going through my mind, 'My normal child... will she be normal again?'"
"Luckily, she came to the ER because if she didn't come to us, she'd probably be disabled right now," Interventional Radiologist Dr. Abdul R. Quadeer said.
Quadeer said a case like this in an 18-year-old is incredibly rare, and it turned out Katie Rangel had a hole in her heart.
A blood clot traveled from her leg, through the small hole in her heart, and to the left side of her brain, shown in a brain scan.
We got our device through the blockage," Quadeer said. "Luckily, the clot came right out. Within less than 10 minutes, this is a picture of what a normal brain looks like. It's actually her brain immediately after we got the clot out."
Just two weeks later, Katie Rangel was able to attend Trinity High School's senior prom, fully recovered.
"I was on the dance floor almost the whole night and it was really fun," she said.
This week, she got to thank the medical team who made that moment possible and said if it wasn't for them, she knows her life would look a lot different today.
"I could have lost more tissue in my brain," she said. "I was thankful because I can speak better. I can walk and balance."
Now, with a high school diploma in hand, Katie Rangel is setting her sights on becoming a nurse, inspired by those who cared for her.
"Just because everyone was so nice," she said. "I feel like I would be great at this job."
Using Katie Rangel's story as an example, doctors at Baylor Scott & White Grapevine said it's important to know the signs of a stroke, which include facial asymmetry, problems moving arms or legs and speech disruptions.
They said if you think you're having a stroke, the best thing you can do is get to the ER.
