Stroke survivors in Northern Colorado have higher chance of recovery thanks to procedure offered by UCHealth

More than 100 people in Northern Colorado are surviving their past experience with stroke with fewer deficiencies thanks to a procedure now being offered by UCHealth. Prior to 2023, the nearest place a stroke patient could be treated with a thrombectomy was in Denver.

However, UCHealth started offering the life-saving procedure at Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland recently, offering the fastest growing region in the state a critical service.

The service being offered in Northern Colorado now helps better serve residents between Casper, Wyoming, and Denver, where other hospitals offer the service.

A thrombectomy is a procedure that helps remove clots from the brain for those experiencing stroke.

Recently Erica Brown, a Northern Colorado resident in her early 30s, woke up with a severe headache.

"I walked headfirst into my bedroom door. I was like, 'Maybe I am drunk,'" Brown said. "I was trying to walk down the hallway and was ping ponging off the walls. That is when my husband caught me and said, 'There is something really wrong with you.'"

Brown's husband called 911. Firefighters and paramedics quickly arrived on scene, helped get her into an ambulance and then transported her to MCR.

"The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital and being told, 'You are having a stroke. We are going to have to operate on you,'" Brown said.

Brown doesn't remember much from that day. She said she remembers being frustrated that she was trying to get her body to do things that it wouldn't. She said she also remembers being worried that the medical staff would sedate her and then shave her long hair before cutting into her scalp.

However, what she didn't know in the moment was that the thrombectomy didn't require her to lose any hair or have her skin surgically cut on her head.

Instead, Dr. Gautham Sachdeva and his team used a catheter to enter a blood vein near Brown's groin. From there, using computers to monitor where they are going, Sachdeva was able to navigate the catheter all the way to the brain where a clot was completely blocking blood flow to one half of Brown's brain.

Using suction, Sachdeva and his team were able to safely remove the blood clot. A scan showed blood flow returned to the vessels in Brown's brain.

"When you're having an acute stroke, every moment counts," Sachdeva said. "So, it becomes critically important to be close to a place where there is capabilities to do clot removal in a timely manner, which can restore blood flow to the brain and prevent major stroke from happening."

Sachdeva said every minute a person experiences stroke they age by three weeks and also lose 1.9 million brain cells, underscoring why it is so important to quickly be treated by medical professionals at first sign of stroke.

Medical professionals recommend the public knows the acronym "BE FAST." That stands for:

B-signs of weakened balance.
E-noticeable loss of eyesight.
F-signs of facial droop.
A-heaviness or weakness in arms.
S-speech impairment or sluring.
T-Saving time by calling 911 quickly.

Sachdeva said there was significant likelihood that Brown would have had life-altering deficiencies following her stroke if she hadn't had her thrombectomy so quickly.

Brown said she was fortunate her husband didn't dismiss the symptoms she was having.

"There is no history of stroke in my family, I don't have diabetes, I don't have high blood pressure," Brown said. "They saved my life."

CBS News Colorado was there as Brown returned to MCR to thank the UCHealth staff, as well as first responders, for helping get her care so quickly.

"I am as well off today as I am because of the hospital and the care I got while I was here," Brown said. "If you do have a stroke, there is hope."