You're listening to Well Now, Sleyts podcast on Health and Wellness. I'm Kavita Patel.

And I'm Maya Feller. Each year 15 million people will experience a stroke. The event alone is terrifying for a person experiencing it and also for their loved ones.

But the repercussions of the stroke don't end at the stroke itself and its

immediate aftercare. Few talk about this long-term disability that many who've had stroke now live with.

Five million people die from stroke according to the World Health

Organization and another five million will experience permanent disability as a

result of it. Several health, environmental and lifestyle factors contribute to cardiovascular health and stroke risk.

Some of these risk factors are modifiable, perhaps things like nutrition, and some of them are not due to structural inequities. For those who do survive a stroke

recovery can be very complicated. Kavita, you know I'm really interested in learning

more about the relationship between surviving a stroke and neurodegenerative diseases that lead to disability.

This is a new area that I don't know that much about, especially how we take care of these patients over the long term.

Kavita, what's your experience with patients who've experienced and

survived a stroke?

Well, because a stroke is so common, as you mentioned, and there is no kind of I guess one type of stroke

although the majority of strokes kind of fall into two categories strokes that are

by the majority caused by some sort of kind of clot kind of event that has a clot and leads to part of the

brain not receiving enough oxygen and then there can be strokes that involve almost the

opposite too much bleeding if you will, but both have

that kind of same devastating effect or parts of your brain are denied kind of the oxygen and nutrients

that it needs.

And so I think I have a lot of experience with it because it's so common I do see a lot of experience with it because it's so common I do see a lot of people some I have been with and then actively diagnose the strokes and them to the hospital timing is critical so that there can be an intervention and then many of whom I have dealt with kind of in that post stroke recovery phase

Some with pretty permanent damage that they constantly and consistently have to overcome with modifications.

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