Twins Suffer Strokes at 26, Only Months Apart
Twins Kathryn and Kimberly Tucker suffered strokes just nine months apart, ABC reported on Wednesday.
As fraternal twins, they do not have identical DNA. There is no history of strokes in the Tucker family.
Kathryn Tucker, a senior care coordinator for an Arizona insurance company, was going to bed in her Chandler, Ariz. apartment when her stroke struck with sharp pain in her right side. Her brother, who was there with her at her apartment, took her to the hospital after she lost her vision and went numb.
Doctors initially wrote her symptoms off as a migraine and sent the 26-year-old home, but she was having a stroke.
"I was absolutely terrified," said Tucker, who was sent home from the emergency room that day in July 2012.
She "slept for three days straight," she said.
Her symptoms did not subside, so she went to an urgent care facility where she was referred to a neurologist who diagnosed a stroke.
Kimberly Tucker suffered a stroke nine months later to the day. The stroke came on like Kathryn's did, but on her left side. She ran a 5 kilometer race that morning and recognized the symptoms her sister described and called 911. She then called Kathryn, who told her to take blood thinners that may have saved her life.
Kimberly Tucker left school in Tucson to take care of her sister Kathryn after her stroke. In April, their roles reversed.
Both twins' strokes affected the part of the brain that sends visual input from the brain to the retinas.
Doctors said that there is no genetic cause for strokes.
It was discovered later that Kathryn Tucker had a PFO, or patent foramen ovale, a small hole in the heart that may have contributed to her stroke.
Doctors also discovered that Kimberly Tucker had arrhythmia, which may have been a contributing factor to her stroke.
Both women are now are doing well after occupational and speech therapy, though they still have some visual deficits and are not allowed to drive.
"Don't think you are impervious to stroke," said Kimberly Tucker, who is still undergoing therapy.
"We think we are invincible until we are not. This taught us a huge lesson that we are not guaranteed great health and we need to take care of our bodies," Kimberly said.