It was Thanksgiving morning in 2008 when 27-year-old Tina Schefter of Warren woke up to go to the bathroom thinking she would soon be preparing the green bean casserole as part of the special day to spend time with her fiancé’s family and her family. Instead, Tina tumbled to the floor, the first warning that something was definitely wrong. “It’s actually kind of funny when I think about it now, but my fiancé looked at me and asked me “What is wrong with your face?”. I responded back to him from the floor, and said “Well, what is wrong with your face?”
In reality Tina’s fiancé was very worried and certain Tina was having a stroke. Half of her face was drooping. She did not know it at the time but her left side was also paralyzed. Tina’s fiancé knew the warning signs of stroke all too well since his mother had suffered a stroke. After calling 911, Tina was rushed by ambulance to the closest hospital where doctors confirmed she had a stroke. Her family spent this unforgettable Thanksgiving without the traditional meal but supporting her by her side.
Tina was transferred to Harper University Hospital, part of the Detroit Medical Center (DMC), where doctors performed angioplasty with medication that dissolved the clot in the artery that feeds the brain behind her right eye. Tina was fortunate on many levels. During the procedure she immediately started moving her leg that was temporarily paralyzed and did not require physical therapy like many who suffer from a stroke.
Doctors at the DMC were determined to find out the underlying cause of the stroke and, after extensive follow up testing, it was discovered that she had a congenital condition called atrial septal defect in which she had a one inch hole in the wall between the upper chambers of her heart and another smaller pinhole in a different section of her heart that had never been previously diagnosed since she had always been healthy.
“I couldn’t believe it. I had been told at another institution when I was 13 or so that I had mitral valve prolapse but other than getting checked every 6 months there was not any recommended treatment nor was there any mention that I had any other condition,” she says.
The stroke was not something anyone would ever wish for, yet because of the stroke, Tina found out she had a congenital heart condition and her neurology doctors at Harper University Hospital suggested she have an evaluation at the Michigan Adult Congenital Heart Center, part of DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan.
Julie Kovach, MD, an adult cardiologist who specializes in the care of adults born with heart defects, evaluated Tina. “Tina had a very adult event, a stroke, that resulted from a blood clot passing through a large hole in her heart, a condition usually diagnosed in childhood. The American College of Cardiology recommends that adults with congenital cardiac conditions, either diagnosed as children or not until adulthood, be cared for by a team of adult and pediatric physicians who specialize in their care at a Center of Excellence, like the Michigan Adult Congenital Heart Center here at the DMC.”
She recommended that Tina meet with Henry L. Walters III, MD, chief of Cardiac Surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan to discuss having the defect closed by surgery. After receiving second and third opinions, Tina learned that heart-related treatment is often very different when it is related to a congenital condition from birth versus a heart condition acquired as an adult, often as a result of other factors such as high blood pressure, smoking or high cholesterol.
Tina was placed on warfarin, a blood thinner to prevent an additional stroke, until she had her surgery at Children’s Hospital. Dr. Walters repaired Tina’s heart by closing the holes with a patch made from the sac that surrounds Tina’s heart. He also repaired a cleft in one of the leaflets of her mitral valve.
Tina, a kindergarten teacher in the Roseville Community School District, seemed unfazed that she was having surgery at Children’s Hospital as an adult. “I did my research and was very impressed with the care at Children’s and the DMC. They took the time to find out the underlying cause of my stroke and the doctors and nurses were incredible,” she says.
Tina is now doing well and is mostly symptom free, other than a subtle droop on part of her face when she is very tired. Yet she insists most people would never be able to tell. She is scheduled to be married in October and continues as a kindergarten teacher doing what she loves. Because of her disorder, one side of her heart is enlarged but doctors at the Michigan Adult Congenital Heart Center are following up with her, to closely monitor her condition.
Thanksgiving of 2008 may have been a time that Tina and her family would just as soon forget, yet perhaps in a strange way, it might have brought her a stroke of luck.