Woman Recovers From Stroke in Her Early 40s

Ashley Franklin Keene is only in her mid-40s, but in November 2022, a blood clot in her brain and blockages in her carotid artery caused her to suffer a stroke. Ashley, who lives in Jena, Louisiana, just northeast of Alexandria, was flown to Ochsner Medical Center – New Orleans for emergency surgery.

“I received excellent care from their medical team and was able to discharge home in just four short days,'' she said.

Ashley said, "I was walking at Ochsner two days after my stroke and eating the next day and I started talking two months later."

Interventional neurologist Gabriel Vidal, MD, who treated Ashley, said that time is of the essence when someone is suffering a stroke. If you or someone you love appears to be having a stroke, getting them emergency care is essential to minimize damage to the brain.

Ashley's stroke was caused by a condition called fibromuscular dysplasia, Dr. Vidal said. Ashley had a small tear in the blood vessel on the left side of her neck that leads to the brain. That formed a piece of clot that broke off and went into one of the main arteries of her brain.

Ashley’s story, unfortunately, is not unusual. The Ochsner Neuroscience Institute reports an increase in the number of young stroke patients. 

Ashley said that her stroke “left me nonverbal, unable to follow a simple command or even nod ‘yes/no’ to simple questions. I had difficulty swallowing. I also had right side weakness affecting my ability to feed myself, brush my teeth, bathe, dress, write, play the piano and overall perform activities of daily living, which we don’t realize how much we take for granted.”

Ashley’s family has operated The Jena Times newspaper her entire life – she was stuffing the paper inserts when she was just a little girl. “How was I going to continue to work or be a part of my community activities?”

There’s good news: "Now I walk and talk and play piano every day. I'm trying and improving every day. I have a different purpose now and I want to encourage others who have had strokes to take it one day at a time,'' Ashley said.