The facts date back to November 2022. Joel Hentrich was playing pickleball, a game similar to tennis, with friends when his life changed. The father, from Festus, Missouri, turned his head and felt a crack in his neck. Soon his vision began to blur. Dizzy and vomiting, the 35-year-old began to feel tingling in his face, hand and leg. Rushed to hospital, he underwent an MRI before being placed in intensive care. Thanks to the analyses, the doctors made their diagnosis: the man had severed his left vertebral artery. “I was in shock. You can’t imagine that this kind of thing can happen to you,” he told SWNS.
Practitioners explained to Joel that this tearing caused three strokes in the lower cerebellum, the part of his brain responsible for coordination and movement: “It hit me like a ton of bricks. As a healthy 35-year-old man, these are words you would never expect to hear. I began to realize how serious this accident was.” At the time, the American was afraid that he would never be able to walk again. Fortunately, he did not lose his functions: “I was dizzy when I started to walk but I expected it as I had been lying in bed for two days.”
He tore his artery by turning his head too quickly but escaped unscathed
Joel’s loved ones started a GoFundMe page to help pay for his medical bills. At the time of writing these lines, 3,635 dollars have been collected, or approximately 3,361 euros. His goal is set at $6,000. Today, the father of the family is “grateful” to be alive: “I am extremely lucky to have been treated in time because I have no lasting physical consequences.” By sharing his misadventure, the 30-year-old is now keen to raise awareness of the symptoms of strokes: “The main thing I would say is that there is a window of time to receive care, usually within three hours. , but the sooner the better. Also trust your instincts.”
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