Two years ago at the age of 34, Angela Riggins suffered a stroke.  Now she continues to heal by helping others through a support group she founded at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare. The stroke support group meets the first Tuesday of every month from 6:30 pm to 8 pm in Medical Office Building A, 7655 Poplar Pike, Suite 250, on the Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital campus.

Riggins is a physical therapist assistant with outpatient rehab at Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital, and having had a stroke herself, she knows first-hand both the physical and mental challenges people must face and work through after a stroke.

“After my stroke, what helped me more than anything else was coming back to work and talking with my stroke patients,” said Riggins. “It was an absolute blessing to have my patients to talk to about what they were going through and what I was going through and it made me realize how much we can help each other.”

Stroke is the number one cause of disability in adults. A stroke is caused when a blood clot blocks an artery or when a blood vessel breaks, interrupting blood flow to the brain. When this happens, brain cells begin to die causing brain damage.

Riggins has no family history of heart disease. She is a runner and she is in good physical health. “Anyone can have a stroke. When I had my stroke, I assumed I was dehydrated and after a week of having some problems, like being forgetful and having difficulty multi-tasking, my doctor ordered an MRI. The MRI showed I had had a stroke.”

Symptoms of a stroke include sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body; sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding; sudden difficulty seeing out of one or both eyes; sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination;  and sudden severe headache with no known cause.

For more information about Methodist’s stroke support group, call Angela Riggins at 901-516-6929.