One day, Kelly’s dad was at work and suddenly noticed that his coffee was leaking out of the left side of his face when he took a sip. Then he stood up and his left arm and leg were both going numb. He knew he was having a stroke.

Kelly started her nursing career with the intention of becoming a Labor & Delivery nurse. She initially wanted to apply at Loma Linda Murrieta because it is close to home, but back then the hospital was only hiring nurses with two years of experience. She ended up working in a stroke unit at a different hospital because she thought, “Hey, I could do stroke nursing, that’s personal to me”. Her grandfather had disabling strokes and refused to do any of the therapy, so she wanted to make it her passion to encourage stroke patients to do rehab to get stronger. Strokes became her passion and she got her SCRN (Stroke Certified Registered Nurse) certification because she wanted to become the best stroke nurse she could be. After 9 years of learning all she could from a Comprehensive Stroke Hospital, she applied to Loma Linda Murrieta to take everything she learned to her local community because she wanted to make a difference here where her family and friends would be going to the hospital for their emergencies.

Back to Kelly’s dad. He was at work when his stroke happened. He asked his co-worker to drive him to Kaiser. At this time, he also noticed that his left arm and leg were getting weaker. Kelly was at work when her mom texted her saying that her dad might be having a stroke and is on his way to Kaiser. So, she called her dad immediately and told him he can’t go to Kaiser because it’s an Urgent Care and they don’t treat strokes. She told him to pull over and call 9-1-1 to activate the emergency response team. Kelly told him to hand the phone to his co-worker so she could talk to him. The co-worker asked Kelly if they should just go to Loma Linda’s Emergency Room. She told him YES! Then she called our House Supervisor and asked her how to activate a code stroke when her Dad was coming to the emergency room, but he was not in an ambulance. She told Kelly to tell her Dad to walk into the ED and tell them that he was having a stroke. Kelly called her Dad and passed the message off. The co-worker dropped him off in front of the ED and told him, “Hey boss, I hope whomever you’re seeing is going to be okay!” (Kelly’s dad never told the co-worker he was having a stroke because he didn’t want to make him panic).

He came into the ED and told them he was having a stroke. At this point, his left-sided weakness was so bad he nearly collapsed into the wheelchair. Kelly heard Code Stroke called at 9:11 am over the intercom. At this point, his NIH was a 6 for left arm and left leg some effort against gravity, left facial, and the entire left side of his body was numb. CT was done immediately to rule out bleed. Tele Neuro was consulted. CT negative for bleed. TPA was started by 9:43. Within 15 minutes, Kelly’s dad told us to check out his left arm movement because it was already feeling better. By the time the TPA was finished, his NIH went down to only a 2 for his left face numbness and left facial droop. By the time he got to the ICU, his NIH went down to a 1 by about 4 pm for only a left-sided facial droop. Kelly’s dad is doing awesome and says he wants to be a poster patient for TPA!

God clearly had His hand all over this situation and clearly orchestrated both of their lives for such a time as this. Thank You Jesus for calling Kelly to be a stroke nurse so that He could use her to help save her dad’s brain. And thank you Jesus for a compliant patient who listens to his daughter…. and paid for her nursing school. He told her this morning that he considers her one of his greatest investments.