Advocate
Claudia is a spokesperson for the American Stroke Association (ASA), a division of the American Heart Association (AHA). Being a stroke survivor has given her tremendous insight into establishing and sustaining life's goals through all manners of adversity. She has fully recovered from her stroke, but remains devoted to spreading the word about stroke prevention, early signs and treatment.
AHA News: Model, actress recovers from stroke caused by cervical dissection
Claudia Mason never imagined whipping her head around dancing could put her at risk of a stroke.
But the neck soreness the New York-based model and actress experienced after a dance class during which she threw her head around “à la Beyoncé,” was actually a symptom of cervical dissection (CD), or a tear in her vertebral artery.
When an artery is injured, a blood clot forms to “heal” the injury. In Mason’s case, that blood clot became dislodged, blocking the blood flow to the brain, causing an ischemic stroke.
“I never thought something like this could happen to a healthy younger adult in a dance class,” Mason said. “I always thought strokes were something only seniors citizens with heart disease had.”
“Claudia,
Thank you so much for sharing your story. Unfortunately, I had a stroke 3 weeks ago today, and it was exactly what happened to you. Your article helped me understand my situation and helped explain to my friend and family what was happening. I'm 39, fit, and had no signs of bad health. I disregarded neck soreness for about 3 weeks and collapsed while playing soccer. Fortunately, my teammates got me to the hospital within 20 minutes of suffering the stroke. I'm recovering fast and I'm hopeful that I will make a full recovery. I just wanted to send you this message to thank you for sharing your story since it's helped me keep a positive mind through this situation. My apologies for the long message! I hope you are doing well.
Best,
Jesus Ramirez”
SPEAKER TOPIC: STROKE, EARLY WARNING SIGNS, PREVENTION AND TREATMENT
By Claudia Mason
My own story is somewhat of a miracle, at least to me, since I am alive and well, fully functioning as I always had been since before my injury. You see, I am a survivor, having suffered a stroke brought on by an accident in a dance class. I’m a young woman, and certainly was one a few years ago when the incident took place. I have no family predisposition to stroke, nor had I ever had one before. My message in talking about what happened to me is to give people correct information about stroke, its early warning signs, prevention and treatment. Most importantly, I want people to NOT do what I did when the symptoms of my stroke presented itself.
MAY IS STROKE AWARENESS MONTH
By Claudia Mason
May 10th, 11th, and 12th 2011 are dates that are forever seared into my memory. These are the dates “the event” and its aftermath occurred. I had just moved back to my hometown of Manhattan, NY six months prior and was settling into a new chapter of my life; one based back on the East Coast. I had lived in Los Angeles for the previous ten years and was ecstatic about living back in what I refer to as “the real world”. LA was just not my town
I had found a wonderful jazz class that replaced the one I’d grown accustomed to in LA and longed for when I first relocated back to the Big Apple.
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