MEDFORD, Ore. – A local 15-year-old boy has recovered from a recent stroke after undergoing surgery.
Doctors were shocked to find someone so young, exhibiting these symptoms. In December of 2023 15-year–old Kasey Poe suddenly collapsed on the floor of his home in Medford, when joking around with his sister. Kasey Poe said,
“I could like think thoughts… I could think of words to say and then the second they come out its bad… This is not normal.”
Kasey Poe described the night where he suddenly experienced symptoms.
“I was having a normal night just… Everything felt normal… I wasn’t having a headache, wasn’t having anything. They thought I was joking at first, just like telling a joke beause I was still like laughing, still like giggling during all this and then I just genuinely couldn’t move my left side.”
His parents rushed him to the providence emergency room within 10 minutes. His father Jason Poe said,
“Panic dad mode, so I run inside, I don’t even know what I told the receptionist lady and then I grabbed a wheelchair, ran outside to the car and an intake nurse, he’s coming out, shines his light on Kasey. He’s like, ‘Kasey, smile.’ And half of Kasey’s face smiles and right then and there, it was like game on.”
Emergency staff then run CT scans and other screenings to eventually determine that Kasey was having a stroke. Dr. Casey Wilson was one of the emergency doctors helping that night, he said,
“Every time we have a stroke, it is a big team intervention again the nurses are involved, the techs are involved. We’re getting IV’s in quickly, getting them quickly over to CT so the CT techs are involved.”
From there, doctors told the family that they had medication that was designed to break up clots, but they only had the adult version. However, given the circumstances and the belief that Kasey Poe would be okay with the medication, the family signed off on the use of it. His mother Jenny Poe said,
“A scary decision but they instilled so much confidence in us that it was the right decision.”
Within an hour of the medication being introduced, their son’s condition stabilized.
“Experts say that they’re glad that the family chose to act so quickly, because when you think someone’s having a stroke, time is really of the essence. So much so, that in the medical world there’s an acronym that’s used to help determine whether or not someone’s having a stroke and it’s called ‘BE-FAST.'”
Dr. Pawani Sachar is a stroke neurologist at Providence and explained,
“B stands for balance. If you have sudden loss of balance. E for eyes. If you have sudden loss of vision or double vision. F is for face. If one side of the face is droopy or numb. A is for arm. If one arm is weak or numb. S is for speech. If you have difficulty getting the words out or difficulty understanding speech this could be a sign of a stroke, and T most importantly stands for time. All I can say is time is brain in these situations.”
Dr. Sachar says that each minute that passes by in a stroke result in the loss of 2 million brain cells. Kasey Poe was treated very quickly, but to examine why this happened to a healthy 15-year-old boy, he was transported to OHSU in Portland. Jenny Poe said,
“They re-scanned him to see that the blood clot was gone, but they also found in a lung scan: AVM’s. Which are a sign and I’m a carrier of HHT, it’s a blood disorder.”
This inherited disorder causes the AVMs, or abnormal connections between arteries and veins, which can cause complications like blood clots. Kasey Poe underwent recent surgery to cut off these AVMs to flow clots to his brain, preventing a future stroke. Kasey Poe said,
“I’m very thankful that I didn’t have any lasting side effects… I’m very thankful for the doctors here, they made me feel like really good like, reassured about everything. I just feel happy I could get past this.”
The Poe family say that Kasey will be monitored at least once a year to be safe.
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