Strokes in children: Yes, it can happen

The mother of one victim is helping to raise awareness to the issue.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR HEALTH WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Kayli Dean lay down for her nap a healthy, vital 3-year-old. She woke up paralyzed on her left side.
The frightened little girl was rushed by ambulance to Sharon Regional Health System hospital's emergency department, where doctors tried to figure out what had caused the paralysis.
"We told the doctor we thought the symptoms were like a stroke," said Stacy Dean, Kayli's mother and a licensed practical nurse.
But the doctor told her, "Kids don't have strokes."
"Even though I was a nurse, I didn't know children could have a stroke. And, if an emergency room doctor is going to say kids don't have strokes, then awareness is necessary. If it happened to my healthy child, it could happen to anyone," she said.
"That's why we want to get the word out," Dean said.
She said it took three days of tests, including a CT (computed tomography) scan and a spinal tap, before an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) revealed a spot on Kayli's brain.
Kayli was transferred to Pittsburgh Children's Hospital, where she was quickly diagnosed with a stroke, Dean said.
But even at Pittsburgh Children's they were unable to discover why the child had had one.
Rehabilitation
Kayli, whom her mother calls the "Queen of Compensation" for her ability to adapt to her disabilities, suffered her stroke Jan. 29, 1999.
She couldn't hold her head up at first, was in a wheelchair for a month, and had to re-learn how to sit up. She could speak only in a whisper, her mother said.
By March 28 of that year, Kayli could walk holding onto something, and by the birthday of her younger sister, Elise, on April 28, 1999, she was walking on her own.
But, despite her progress, Kayli, who is 9, still has weakness on her left side, and has hit a plateau after four years of therapy. She has diminished use of her left hand and needs special braces for her left hand and foot, Dean added.
Dean said she works part time at two jobs, one at the Mahoning County jail and the other at Pediatric Associates of Youngstown. She has no health benefits, however, and can't afford the devices.
The mother and daughter lived in Sharon, Pa., until about 10 months ago when they moved to Austintown.
School
At her school in Sharon, Case Avenue Elementary, Kayli was a cheerleader, and she participated in the YMCA Soccer League. Now a student at Watson Elementary, she is learning to play the recorder and says her favorite class is gym. She also enjoys swimming and jumping on the trampoline in her backyard.
"There are a lot of things Kayli can't do well, like cutting paper, but she'll try anything. She just learned to ride a two-wheel bicycle," Dean said.
"I just hope she's able to overcome everything and have a normal life and a bright future. I hope as she gets older, she'll help get the word out about pediatric stroke," Dean said.
Saturday is national Childhood Stroke Awareness Day, and May is Stroke Awareness Month. Dean said that is why she chose this time to tell Kayli's story. She wants to raise awareness in the general public and in the medical community.
Educating doctors
Even doctors can be unaware.
Until her son Eric, now 10, had a stroke just after birth, neither Dr. Joni Stasiak, nor her husband, Dr. Steven R., both of the Canton area and both board-certified family physicians, were aware that children have strokes.
Looking for support, Dr. Joni Stasiak, affiliated with the Carroll Family Health Care in Malvern, was surfing the Internet in 1997 when she came across another mother doing the same thing. Together, they founded CHASA -- Children's Hemiplegia and Stroke Association -- which numbers 800 families.
These are people who had nobody to support them, said Dr. Joni Stasiak, medical adviser and former secretary of CHASA.
The CHASA retreats, like the one Dean and Kayli went to in Hershey, Pa., in 2002, are growing rapidly, Dr. Joni Stasiak said. This year's event in Wisconsin is expected to attract about 65 families, she said.
"Until you go to one of the retreats, and see these kids look at the other children and then look at their parents and say, 'That kid is just like me,' you don't really understand. They bond so quickly and closely. Parents come back year after year," Dr. Joni Stasiak said.
"I would love to get together area parents or families of children who have had strokes. You feel so isolated," Dean added.
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