Help needed to learn more about stroke and young adults.

Can you share your story?

post by David Dansereau,MSPT Know-Stroke.org

A stroke is devastating at any age. When you are forced to deal with a stroke at a young age, there are many additional challenges during your recovery. From getting back your independence, restoring your identity and returning to life after this life changing event, there are many obstacles to overcome. Typical current models for treating and guiding individuals after their strokes often do not account for long-term survival and the unique recovery needs encountered by young adults that suffer a stroke.

With the help of experts in specialties across Tufts Medical Center, Vascular Neurologist Lester Y. Leung, MD hopes to make a difference in young stroke survivors lives and improve the model of care for young survivors. Dr. Leung has built a comprehensive, longitudinal care program for Stroke and Young Adults (SAYA) to help young adult and pediatric stroke survivors navigate their lives after stroke.

The Stroke and Young Adults (SAYA) Program is built to help identify causes of your stroke, optimize prevention of future strokes, estimate your risk for recurrent stroke and late complications of stroke, and provide counseling on stroke survivorship. Dr. Leung currently needs your help and wants to learn about your experience with stroke.

Here is a brief intro to the SAYA interview study:

Are you a stroke survivor? Did your stroke or TIA (transient ischemic attack) occur between ages 18 and 55? Dr. Lester Leung and his team at Tufts Medical Center are interviewing young and early middle age adults about their experiences with their strokes to better understand how people develop symptoms in these age ranges, how they decide to seek medical care, and how they make decisions about their health after their strokes. If you are interested in participating, please contact Dr. Leung at lleung@tuftsmedicalcenter.org. Interviews usually take about 30-45 minutes and can be done in person or over the telephone. The team is giving participants a $15 Amazon gift card as a sign of gratitude for participation in the study.

What do you need as a stroke survivor outside the clinic?

Outside the clinic and hospital, the SAYA Program at Tufts would like to help you connect with other stroke survivors and their families to get out of the house, share experiences, or just have some fun! They’re interested in hearing your ideas and preferences for the social/educational/support aspect of the Stroke and Young Adults (SAYA) Program at Tufts Medical Center. This program is the first and only one of its kind, and we’d like to tailor it to your interests. Would you like the events to focus on being fun, or would you like an educational or support piece built in as well? What sort of things would you like to do? Let them know here.

They’ve invited you to fill out the form SAYA Social Survey. To fill it out, visit their survey here.