By John Perry

What began as a bright morning drive to work became an unexpected journey into darkness for Deborah Benford. It began with her body sending strange warning signals.

“My vision was so blurred I couldn’t read the street signs,” recalled Benford of that August day in 1998. “By late morning, I made myself focus well enough to get my work done, so at the time I didn’t think too much more about it.

“Then came a headache – one like I had never felt before,” said Benford, then a senior account clerk in the Human Resources Department. “I kept taking aspirin with coffee, hoping the caffeine would help speed relief from the pounding in my forehead.”

The telltale stroke
When co-workers and her supervisor asked if she needed assistance, Benford assured them it was only a passing condition. Determined to continue working, she mentally tried to force the crushing headache from her thoughts. But even more ominous symptoms stacked on.

“A squeezing sensation moved up my right leg and settled between my shoulders. It was like being caught in a vise,” Benford said. “If I only knew then what I know now, I would have respected what my body was telling me and called 911 on the spot.”

A stroke was evolving and spreading damage in Benford’s brain.

Her thoughts became jumbled. It was difficult to form words. Her speech was slurred. Then came right-side paralysis.

Paramedics were summoned. With siren blaring, an ambulance whisked her to St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. In the intensive care unit, neurologists diagnosed Benford, 47, as having an ischemic stroke: a condition where blood flow in an artery leading to the brain has been severely reduced by clot-forming plaque.

Plaque is a buildup of cholesterol and other materials in the walls of the arteries. It can rupture, causing platelets in the blood to stick together and form a clot.

Aggressive medical care saved her life and placed her on the road to recovery. But Benford faced months of rehabilitation.

“I couldn’t just lie there and feel sorry for myself,” Benford said. “I had six children depending on me. I knew I had to get out of bed and take control of my life.”

Six weeks later, she was released from the hospital.

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"Try to squeeze my hand," says EMS paramedic Victor Mendez, left, as he and fellow paramedic Jimmy Ledbetter administer a stroke-recognition test. Photo by John Perry