On March 4, beloved actor Luke Perry passed away five days after suffering from a stroke. Many celebrities have since then taken to their social media accounts to pay their respects to the late actor and many are even wondering how this could happen. For those uninitiated, Perry was 52 when he passed away and many are still unable to grasp that the actor suffered from a stroke at this age. However, a doctor reveals that it is actually rather common for people to have a stroke in their 50s.
“With the tragic and unfortunate and untimely death of Luke Perry, a lot of people are wondering what type of stroke he had and what types of strokes exist and how you can protect yourself,” said the doctor. “It’s actually quite common for someone in their early 50s to have a stroke,” she added. “All together, there’s about 800,000 people each year that suffer from a stroke, but not all of them will die. And a portion of that number have actually had recurrent strokes,” she continued.
Talking about what puts people at a risk for strokes, she said that factors like being a smoker, having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, opting for less exercise, having diabetes and even having a higher BMI than you should, all lead to a stroke. “Get your cholesterol checked, get your blood sugar checked, get your blood pressure checked because having these vital signs in order and these blood results in order can help protect you and save you from a stroke,” she said.
She further added that remembering the word F.A.S.T could help you figure out if you or someone else is suffering from a stroke. F stands for facial drooping, A stands for arm weakness or numbness in other parts of the body, S stands for slurred speech and T stands for time to call an ambulance if you spot these symptoms.
