Brendon’s Smile is dedicated to raising awareness for childhood stroke. Stroke events can effect children of any age, from pre-birth to young adult. Amber Boatright’s story demonstrates how strokes can effect children and young adults.

Amber was a typical young adult high school student with a B+ average. She did the typical things that teenagers do, including being a cheerleader for her home town high school. Amber had a history of migraines, but other than this a normal health background (to her knowledge).

On July 31, 2006 Amber was wakened by a major headache. She assumed it was a migraine at the time. She was 17 years old, preparing for her senior year in high school. Amber went to cheerleading practice, but after 20 minutes she was unable to speak and was sick to her stomach. Still believing it was a migraine, Amber took Tylenol and Excedrin as she usually did for her headaches.

On August 1, Amber’s mother took her to the doctor who concurred with Amber’s feelings that is was most likely a migraine. The doctor administered injections of Demerol and Phenagrine, and advised Amber she would sleep for 8 hours. Because of the intensity of the pain, Amber was only able to sleep for 45 minutes. The pain was so severe that she was unable to hold up her head; she walked with a slouch because she was unable to keep her body erect. She was nauseous and unable to eat.

Amber went to the emergency room that same day where attending physicians concurred with earlier assessments of a severe migraine. Amber’s mother insisted that a CT scan be conducted. The scan revealed bleeding on her brain.

Amber was rushed to Savannah, but by the time she arrived she had suffered a stroke. Physicians in Savannah determined that Amber had a blood clot in her brain resulting in a major stroke. The event was diagnosed as a Transverse Sinus Thrombosis.

Amber slipped into a coma-like state for 8 days. During this time a myriad of tests were performed. The tests revealed that Amber suffered from four (4) individual blood clotting disorders:

Factor V Leiden
Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR),
Protein S
Protein C

She was unaware of these conditions until after her stroke.

Upon awakening, Amber thought that everything was fine and back to normal. It became apparent that there were problems when it became necessary for Amber’s parents to tell her what had happened over and over again. She could not remember friends or family member’s names. She had difficulty with words, and found she could not finish a sentence.

Amber was released from the hospital on August 15, 2006 and began therapy to regain her speech and memory. She had to learn simple words all over again, such as “brush” and “book”. Amber stated she didn’t realize how difficult it would be because she could not remember ever being unable to speak.

After 6 months of speech therapy she was released due to her ability to speak but continued memory loss. Upon returning to high school, she was placed in home bound special education school. In 2007, she tried to start college but it was too soon. She was also informed that she had failed to take the prerequisite math and english classes during her senior year, and therefore did not qualify for state colleges and universities. She also found that the various colleges and schools were unwilling to work with her disability.

Today Amber suffers from both short and long-term memory loss. She has trouble remembering random little things or planned major ones. She is being treated for depression, and is having difficulties finding a job.

Amber was accepted to a technical college, and began October 1st 2008. She says that most people think that she is the same person now that she was before the stroke incident because she doesn’t look any different. Amber says that she’s a different person who now has a different attitude towards life. She appreciates just being able to breathe now.

Amber says that the past two years were the hardest of her life. She felt alone because she found no one understood what she was experiencing. All the dreams of a young 17 year old high school student were shattered in July 2006.

She now is ready to move ahead with her life. Amber feels compelled to share her story with others so that no one will ever have to feel helpless or alone after a stroke event as she did.

Amber also wants to share her story so that the medical community will understand that strokes “don’t just happen to old people”. She feels that had her stroke been detected early and treated at first signs, the resulting damage may have been mitigated.

Because of her spirit, determination and efforts to raise awareness for Childhood Stroke, Amber Boatright has been chosen as the February 2009 Hero of the Month!